Light, sweet crude for August delivery closed up 41 cents, or 0.58 percent, to $71.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The last time the contract traded at these levels was Sept. 8, 2006.

Natural gas fell 0.1 cent, or 0.13 percent, to $6.764 per 1,000 cubic feet after dipping as low as $6.555.

Heating oil added 1.94 cents, or 0.95 percent, to 2.0618 cents a gallon.

Reformulated-gasoline blendstock for oxygen blending moved up 0.59 cent, or 0.26 percent, to $2.2487 a gallon.

AAA said Monday the average U.S. retail regular unleaded gasoline price was $2.957 a gallon, down 0.004 cent from Sunday's $2.961 a gallon.