Oil prices started to trade the new week with strong gains, boosted by another fall in US rig counts, with short covering pushing the commodity higher. Futures for WTI jumped 1.78% to trade at $36.56 per barrel, while Brent futures hiked 1.52% to $39.31 per barrel, after both benchmarks closed the prior week with gains. The sentiment on Monday was lifted after Friday's news that the number of US oil rig counts fell by 8 to 392 over last week, falling for an 11th week in a row and hitting the lowest level since December 2009, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes. "US shale producers continue to pull rigs from the ground in an effort to conserve capital," analysts at ANZ wrote in a note.