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The Gulf Coast Dislikes Ike

According to a Guy Carpenter Instrat report, Ike is currently expected to regain major hurricane strength as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico and heads towards the Texas coastline. Forecasters say

By Patrick Stevenson | Updated on September 08, 2008

According to a Guy Carpenter Instrat report, Ike is currently expected to regain major hurricane strength as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico and heads towards the Texas coastline. Forecasters say Ike could make landfall near Port O’Connor in Texas on Saturday. However, long term forecasts are subject to change and Ike could come ashore anywhere from northern Mexico to western Louisiana with likely landfall along the Texas coast between Galveston and Brownsville as a major hurricane, forecasters said. The possibility of such a scenario prompted officials Texas to prepare for what may be the third major storm to affect the Gulf Coast region in less than a month.

Ike is currently a category 1 hurricane and has maintained its strength over the past 24 hours whilst moving over western Cuba. Ike has now moved into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and remains a well organized storm despite tracking over western Cuba. Environmental conditions are conductive for re-strengthening in the Gulf, where 25% of US oil and 15% of its natural gas is produced. Forecasters said Ike’s current forecast path would likely see the storm move to the southwest of the biggest concentration of platforms in the Gulf but some operations have shut down production and evacuated personnel. Gulf of Mexico oil production remains low in the wake of Hurricane Gustav and the US Minerals Management Service said about 78% of oil production and some 65% of the natural gas produced in the Gulf was shut as 9 September due to Gustav and Ike.

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