NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Oil prices rose to another record high at 64 dollars on Monday after warnings of military attacks in the world's largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia and on fears about refinery outages in the United States.

    On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude oil futures for September delivery touched as high as 64 dollars a barrel during intraday trading before settling at 63.94 dollars, up 1.63 dollars.

    Meanwhile, on London's International Petroleum Exchange, the September Brent crude oil futures climbed 1.63 dollars to close at 62.70 dollars per barrel.

    As the US shut its diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia in response to threats in the country, traders worried that possible terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia would strain the supplies from the world's No. 1 oil exporter.

    Concerns over the Saudi Arabian supplies also coincided with news that another US refinery had run into output problem, adding to the pressure on oil supplies in the world's largest oil consumer.

    While US refineries were using 90 percent of their capacity to meet the surging demand, many analysts and traders feared that a significant supply disruption would make it harder for US refineries to meet the need.

    As oil prices hit a new record high, Wall Street stocks fell for a third straight session Monday.

    The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 21.10 points, or 0.20 percent, to 10,536.93 points. The Nasdaq composite index fell 13. 52 points, or 0.62 percent, to 2,164.39 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 3.29 points, or 0.27 percent, to 1,223.13 points.

    In New Mexico, US President George W. Bush on Monday signed an energy bill he called critical to the US economy but admitted that it offered no short-term relief from climbing oil costs.

    The legislation, passed by Congress after a four-year battle, would provide 14.5 billion dollars in energy tax breaks over 10 years, much of it to traditional energy companies.

    Nearly 9 billion dollars are earmarked for oil and gas, electricity and coal companies. Less than 5 billion dollars will be spent on energy efficiency and renewable energy programs.

    In the four weeks to July 19, US gasoline use rose 1.1 percent from a year earlier, to 9.5 million barrels a day, while demand for distillates, which included heating oil and diesel, climbed 4.2 percent, according to the Energy Department's report last week.

    Analysts widely expected oil prices to hit 65 dollars per barrel soon as many large speculators continued to bet on high prices. Oil for delivery in January through March next year already closed above 66 dollars a barrel. Enditem