(New throughout, adds details and comments from meteorologist)
HOUSTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell and
Chevron on Thursday began evacuating non-essential
personnel from offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms ahead of a
storm expected to enter the Gulf this weekend.
A storm brewing in the Caribbean Sea could become a major
hurricane this weekend and strike the U.S. Gulf Coast by Sunday,
the National Hurricane Center said. Hurricanes with winds of up
to 111 miles per hour (178 km) are classified as major and can
bring devastating damage onshore.
"This storm has the potential for rapid increases in
intensity before it comes ashore" because of extremely warm
waters off Louisiana, said Jim Foerster, chief meteorologist at
DTN, which provides weather information to offshore oil and
transportation companies.
Shell said evacuations covered all eight of its Gulf of
Mexico properties and a floating production and storage vessel
was being moved out of harms way. Chevron said its Gulf of
Mexico oil and gas production remained at normal levels.
"Water temperatures are 85 degrees to 88 degrees Fahrenheit
(29-31 C), that's anomalously high, 3 to 5 degrees higher than
it normally would be," said DTN's Foerster. A projected path
over warm waters will result in heavy rains and flooding as it
nears the central Gulf Coast, he said.
(Reporting by Gary McWilliams; editing by David Evans and David
Gregorio)