Threat: Hurricane Gustav projected path
Gustav aims for US Gulf oil facilities
Oil companies began early storm preparations today as forecasters predicted Hurricane Gustav will enter the US Gulf of Mexico as a major storm by the weekend.
Shell, one of the largest oil and gas producers in the region, said it would begin evacuating non-essential personnel from offshore facilities tomorrow as energy prices jumped on the threat.
Other companies operating in the Gulf were monitoring the progress of Gustav, which was churning off the coast of Haiti as a Category 1 hurricane today.
Hurricane forecasters were predicting that Gustav would skirt the western coast of Cuba and enter the Gulf of Mexico as a powerful Category 3 hurricane with winds in excess of 100 miles per hour (160 kilometres per hour) by Sunday, said Reuters.
"The entire Gulf energy infrastructure is now threatened," wrote Jim Rouiller of forecaster Planalytics, who noted two major hurricane forecasting models predicted the storm making landfall somewhere between Houston and New Orleans, which is home to nearly half of US oil refining capacity.
"There's the possibility of a Category 3 to Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf on Sunday. There's major change in the track just since yesterday, and I'm sure there's going to be more, but that's what has everyone's attention right now. If we get a major hurricane in the Gulf there's going to be a lot more short covering," said Commercial Brokerage's Ed Kennedy.