Omar Becomes Hurricane on Path Toward Virgin Islands

By Brian K. Sullivan and Aaron Sheldrick

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Omar strengthened from a tropical storm over the Caribbean south of Puerto Rico and may strike the Virgin Islands as early as today.

Omar's sustained winds increased to almost 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour from 50 mph yesterday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory at 2 a.m. Puerto Rico time. The hurricane was 310 miles south-southwest of San Juan in Puerto Rico and moving northeast at 6 mph.

A hurricane warning was issued for the U.S. Virgin Islands and the islands of Veiques and Culebra, the center said. Hurricane warnings were also in effect for the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and St. Kitts and Nevis. The warnings mean hurricane conditions are expected within 24 hours.

Omar may pass east of Puerto Rico and threaten the Hovensa oil refinery in the Virgin Islands, Joe Bastardi, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania, said in a newsletter yesterday.

The Hovensa refinery exported 338,000 barrels a day of refined products to the U.S. in July, according to Energy Department records. The refinery is jointly owned by Hess Corp. of New York and Venezuela's state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA.

While the storm is affecting refinery shipping, it isn't expected to affect operations, Alex Moorhead, spokesman for the Hovensa refinery, said yesterday.

Harbor Shut

``We do not anticipate the need to shut down the refinery'' due to the storm, he said. The Coast Guard shut the harbor to incoming traffic yesterday, he said.

The storm caused a blackout two days ago in eastern Venezuela, knocking part of the Puerto La Cruz refinery off line, Petroleos de Venezuela said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. Activity was halted at the port of Jose, one of the country's main oil terminals, the company said.

The hurricane center's track shows the storm striking the U.S. Virgin Islands after 8 p.m. today.

Hurricane watches and tropical-storm warnings remain in effect for Puerto Rico and may be upgraded to a hurricane warning today, the center said.

Puerto Rico and the northern Leeward Islands may get as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain. The Netherlands Antilles islands to the south of the hurricane may get at least 4 inches of rain, with as much as 12 inches possible.

Tropical Depression

In the western Caribbean, a low-pressure area developed into a tropical depression off the coast of Honduras, the hurricane center said. The storm has sustained winds of 30 mph and was moving west at 6 mph.

The system, which has a ``poorly defined'' center, was 105 miles east of Limon in Nicaragua at midnight local time, U.S. forecasters said. It is the 16th depression of the June 1-Nov. 30 Atlantic hurricane season.

The depression may become a tropical storm today, the hurricane center said. A tropical-storm warning was in effect for parts of Nicaragua's coast. The storm is forecast to drop as much as 15 inches of rain on parts of Nicaragua and Honduras, according to an advisory from the center in Miami.

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

From 1944 to 2005, an average of 10 named storms formed by November, with six of those strengthening into hurricanes, according to the center's Web site. The systems are named when sustained winds reach tropical-storm strength, 39 mph. They become hurricanes when sustained winds reach 74 mph.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net; Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at ashledrick@bloomberg.net.