Caribbean Tropical Depression May Move Away From Gulf

By Brian K. Sullivan

Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- A tropical depression that formed in the Caribbean south of Puerto Rico today may move into the Atlantic and away from oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said.

The center of the depression was about 570 kilometers (355 miles) southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to the advisory released shortly before 5 p.m. Miami time. Computer models show the storm tracking eastward into the open ocean, according to center maps.

Tropical storm watches were issued for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands as well as the extreme eastern portion of the Dominican Republic.

``This track should bring the cyclone very close to Puerto Rico between 48 and 72 hours and over the open Atlantic thereafter,'' the center said.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to about one-quarter of all U.S. oil production.

If the storm further intensifies, it would become the 15th named storm of the 2008 hurricane season that began in June 1 and ends on Nov. 30. The storm would be called Omar.

Forecasters predicted this season would have an above- average number of storms. Colorado State University researchers predicted at least 17 major storms, including nine hurricanes, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said there would be 14 to 18 named storms.

Gustav, Ike

The U.S. has been struck by a series of powerful storms this season, including Hurricane Gustav, which forced the largest evacuation in Louisiana before it struck on Sept. 1, and Hurricane Ike, which came ashore on Sept. 11 near Galveston, Texas, flooding much of the coast, knocking out power to millions and destroying homes.

Elsewhere, the NHC said a low-pressure system in the southwestern Caribbean about 160 kilometers east-southeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, may become a tropical depression in the next two days.

Further east in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Nina was downgraded to a depression. It was moving west-northwest at 11 kph and located 1,850 kilometers west of the Cape Verde islands and could dissipate tonight, according to a center advisory.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in New Orleans at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.