New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, climbed 64 cents to 63.64 dollars per barrel during electronic trading.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for November delivery gained 72 cents to 62.53 dollars per barrel.

"The reason why we're seeing stronger numbers this morning is this new storm coming in the Caribbean which could cause disruptions to the crude oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico," Prudential Bache trader Christopher Bellew said.

US weather monitors issued a hurricane watch for Florida's western islands on Sunday as Rita brewed in the western Atlantic.

"Rita is getting much better organized and strengthening as it nears the southeastern Bahamas," the National Hurricane Center said in a public advisory at 2359 GMT Sunday.

"Rita could become a category one hurricane by late Monday," the center added.

On August 30, a day after Hurricane Katrina battered US oil facilities on the Gulf coast, New York's main oil contract hit a record-high 70.85 dollars per barrel, while in London Brent reached an all-time high 68.89 dollars -- leaving prices double the levels in 2003.

Prices have since retreated as a number of oil facilities came back on line and after the United States and its industrial partners agreed to tap emergency reserves.

Meanwhile, the market was keeping a close eye on OPEC, which began on Monday a two-day meeting in Vienna to decide over the oil cartel's output.

Libyan Energy Secretary Fathi Hamed bin Shatwan said in the Austrian capital that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries would maintain its current oil production quota and offer two million barrels per day in case of increased demand.

Asked whether there was a clear consensus among OPEC's 11 members on keeping the official quota at its current level of 28 million barrels per day, Shatwan said:

"Well, we discuss this, we are going to discuss it at the conference."

"The idea (is) not to change the quota," he added.

OPEC is under pressure to help curb near-record oil prices, but cartel members stressed that it was not the supply of crude but a lack of refining capacity that was at the root of the high prices.

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