Oil prices rose on Monday, extending lastweek's gains, but the persistent global supply glut will likely cap advances,analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fordelivery in May won 68 cents to $52.32 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for Maygained 79 cents to $58.66 around midday in London.

"There has been a continuation in therise of oil prices from Friday's session, but the market has started this weekcautiously due to the ongoing oversupply situation," said MichaelMcCarthy, chief market strategist with CMC Markets in Sydney.

Both contracts closed last week up morethan five percent thanks to a drop in the number of US oil rigs in operation,better economic data from Germany and easing expectations that Iranian oilwould return to the market soon after a deal with Western powers over itsnuclear program.

But Sanjeev Gupta, who heads theAsia-Pacific oil and gas practice at professional services firm EY, said:"Increases in crude oil inventory in the US and the announcement of recordoutput of crude by Saudi Arabia in March helped to limit gains in benchmarkprices."

US inventories in the week to April 3surged nearly 11 million barrels to a fresh record high of 482.4 million, theUS Department of Energy said.

Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, Oil Minister AliAl-Naimi announced output hit a record 10.3 million barrels a day in March.

The global oil market lost about 60 percentof its value to about $40 per barrel between June and late January, owinglargely to an oversupply in world markets and the OPEC’s refusal to cutproduction.

The drop in big oil companies’ profits inthe past eight months isn’t just a function of lower crude prices - it alsoreflects strategic choices.

A Reuters examination of corporate filingsby some of the biggest players in the industry, including BP, Shell andFrance’s Total, shows the sensitivity of these companies’ earnings to changesin oil prices has risen in recent years.

This means that for every dollar the oilprice drops, their profits sink more than they might have done five years ago.Choices made by several oil majors that built more exposure to prices intotheir portfolio, mainly through the kinds of contracts they opted to sign, wasaimed at enjoying prices that were historically high.