UPDATE: Bonnie Moves Across Gulf Of Mexico Towards Spill Area

(Updates storm's position.) MIAMI (AFP)--A storm system which is disrupting oil cleanup efforts moved across the Gulf of Mexico early Saturday after crossing southern Florida and drenching it with rain. Bonnie weakened to a tropical depression but was expected to regain strength, U.S. forecasters said. At 5 a.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center reported that Bonnie was over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, where warm waters were helping the system regain strength on its northwest path towards oil spill response operations. Its center was located 185 miles south of Apalachicola, Fla., and 285 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to the NHR. The depression was moving west-northwest at nearly 17 miles per hour, with diminished sustained winds of 35 mph, with higher gusts. On this track Bonnie's center will move over the Gulf Saturday, and hit Louisiana in the northern Gulf Coast late Saturday or early Sunday, the NHC said. "Bonnie could regain tropical storm strength before reaching the northern Gulf coast," the Miami-based center warned in a bulletin. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal earlier issued an emergency declaration to help speed state assistance to areas in need. Despite Bonnie slipping to depression status, tropical storm warnings remained in effect across the entire northern Gulf Coast, a 330-mile stretch from western Florida, through Alabama and Mississippi to New Orleans and the delta regions of Louisiana. The weather Friday forced evacuation of two rigs and 11 offshore platforms involved in oil and gas operations--about 1.7% of the platforms in the Gulf--and at least 28 percent of area oil production has been halted, said the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement. "Vessels and drilling rigs involved in the BP oil spill response have been required to curtail or halt operations and to begin evacuations" as well, the bureau said in a statement. BP and U.S. officials decided to begin evacuation procedures Thursday as Bonnie headed towards the Gulf. U.S, spill response chief Admiral Thad Allen said Friday that officials believe they will feel the effects of Bonnie early Saturday in the oil spill area. (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 24, 2010 05:18 ET (09:18 GMT)