Dangerous Tropical Depression in Gulf, Threatening Louisiana

It's barely moving right now, but a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana has shut down almost 6 percent of the regions oil production, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The system, which virtually popped up out of nowhere, is located at about 210 miles (338 kilometers) southwest of the Mississippi River mouth, the Miami-based center said today in an advisory issued before 8 a.m. EST Friday. The depression may become a tropical storm later in the day before reaching Louisiana over the weekend.

The depression is moving toward the northwest at almost 1 mph and its maximum winds are unchanged at 35 mph, the center said. A continued slow and possibly erratic motion toward the northwest or north is expected today and Saturday, the NHC said.

Winds of tropical-storm force are being reported on oil rigs north and east of the center at elevations of a few hundred feet, the center said.

Bloomberg News reports that companies including Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC), BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Noble Corp. (NE) have evacuated workers from Gulf rigs and platforms. About 5.7 percent of Gulf oil production and 2.4 percent of natural gas output has been shut down by the storm, according to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The Gulf accounts for 27 percent of U.S. oil output and 6.5 percent of natural gas production.

The problem with the storm is that it's stationary, with nothing to move it out of the Gulf. Jill Hasling, president of the Weather Research Center in Houston, told Bloomberg, It looks like this thing is just going to sit there, with storm-force winds blowing, for days.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency, saying that through Sunday the storm threatens to pour extremely heavy, prolonged rain -- as much as 10 to 15 inches -- over the state and cause flash flooding and high tides.

As of Friday morning, the entire stretch of Florida is left out of the Hurricane Center's storm warning advisory.
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