US Offshore Oil Output Drops as Hurricane Ian Approaches
U.S. offshore oil producers on Tuesday were keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Ian's track as the powerful storm shut-in at least 480,000 barrels of oil production as it heads toward Florida.The hurricane entered the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday and is forecast to become a dangerous, Category 4 storm over the warm waters of the Gulf, according to National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecaster Eric Blake.Ian weakened after crossing Cuba and was packing winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km per hour), the NHC said.
Chantal Expected to Rip Through Yucatan Peninsula
Tropical Storm Chantal, moving westward toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Belize, was headed for a landfall on Monday night or early Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center here. "We expect landfall tonight or early tomorrow morning," said meteorologist Eric Blake. As for the location, "It's hard to pinpoint," Blake said. "There's a slight possibility of it becoming a hurricane, but we don't think that will happen before it makes landfall," Blake said. The tropical storm maintained its top winds of 65 mph, still shy of the 74 mph threshold to become a hurricane, forecasters said. A hurricane watch was issued for the Yucatan's Caribbean coast from Belize City to the Mexican resort center of Cancun, alerting residents to expect hurricane-force winds within 36 hours. At 5 a.m.