Ike On its Way to Texas, Will Skirt Oil Region

Hurricane Ike is on track to hit the Texas coast on Saturday, and most likely will not be hitting the heart of the U.S. offshore oil patch. 
 
Ike, a Category 1 storm with 85 mile-per-hour (140 kph) winds, has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean after toppling decrepit buildings in Cuba's capital and ripping the island from end to end. 
 
Forecasters said Ike would likely regain power in the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters and become a major storm again, revving up to a Category 3 on the five-step hurricane intensity scale with a minimum of 115 mph (178 kph) winds. 
 
But latest projections pointed Ike toward the middle of the Texas coast, skirting to the west of the main region for offshore production in the gulf, which provides a quarter of U.S. oil and 15 percent of its natural gas. 
 

Published on September 10, 2008