Tropical Storm Edouard forced the closure of a huge US offshore oil port, halted some oil production and disrupted shipping as it storm raced toward the Texas-Louisiana coast today.
Energy companies evacuated staff from offshore platforms due to Edouard, the second named storm of the season to threaten oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico, with Apache shutting a small amount of output.
So far, Edouard had closed 0.9 per cent of crude oil production and 7.2 per cent of natural gas output, according the US Minerals Management Service.
The Gulf of Mexico supplies about a quarter of US crude oil output and 15 per cent of its natural gas, while Gulf Coast refiners make about a quarter of domestic petrol.
The storm also halted inbound traffic to the Houston Ship Channel and the Sabine Pass ship channel.
At its predicted strength, Tropical Storm Edouard is unlikely to swamp coastal area refineries in the same way 2005's Katrina and Rita did, experts said.
The US National Hurricane Centre said Edouard had about a 20 per cent chance of becoming a hurricane by the time it reaches land. It is currently packing winds of around 85 km/h.