A powerful cyclone skirted the coast of Oman today, disrupting oil and gas production and exports, but the storm appeared to be weakening and moving north through a major shipping channel towards Iran.
Tropical Cyclone Gonu, which earlier reached the level of a maximum-force Category Five hurricane, was the strongest to reach Oman's coast since 1977, the Omani weather service told Reuters, with strong winds and heavy rains pummelling the coast and forcing thousands from their homes.
But the US military's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre said the storm had weakened to maximum sustained winds of 105 miles per hour (170 kilometres per hour), making it a Category Two hurricane. The centre of the storm was now expected to hit land in south-eastern Iran, possibly disrupting shipping through the Gulf, a major oil export route.
The storm had been expected to sweep north along the heavily populated coast of Oman, damaging energy facilities and property.
Abdallah al-Harthi, spokesman for Oman's disaster relief body, said there had been no fatalities or major damage, but that the worst was still to come.
"We are still in pre-storm conditions ... the worst of the storm is expected to pass in the early morning in some areas," he said.
Production had been suspended at the country's Mukhaizna oilfield, a top oil ministry official said.
Output from the field is estimated at around 10,000 barrels per day.
"Production at the field has been stopped as a precautionary measure, Nasser bin Khamis al Jashmi, undersecretary at the country's ministry of oil and gas, told Oman's state television. "Production might be resumed tomorrow."
The Sur export terminal, which handles 10 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas exports, would be closed for at least 48 hours, a shipper said. Sultan Qaboos port, which handles vehicles and containers, was also closed.
The Mina al Fahal oil terminal, the only outlet for Oman's 650,000 barrels per day of crude production, closed during the day as storms hit the area.
Oil official Rashid al-Barwani said it had since reopened and delays would be short-lived as the storm appeared to be weakening, but shippers said the conditions were not suitable for loading and there was no activity at the terminal.
Oman's stock exchange is closed along with all private and public sector institutions until Saturday, while the national carrier Oman Air stopped all flights into and out of the sultanate from 1600 GMT.
Oil has risen above $70 in London since yesterday due to the storm in the Gulf, source of about 20% of the world's oil supply.
Oman's position at the mouth of the Gulf of Oman made it particularly vulnerable, but southern Iran is also exposed.
US-based weather service The Weather Channel said Gonu was continuing to move towards the Gulf of Oman, packing winds of 145 miles per hour but was forecast to stay just off Oman, then approach south-eastern Iran tomorrow with winds around 105 miles per hour.
Gonu peaked at 160 miles per hour and has been slowly weakening since late on Monday, it said.
West of Oman, the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia, said its main oil region was safe.
Saudi Aramco, the country's production arm, said it did not expect its offshore facilities in the Gulf to be affected but was monitoring the storm and had prepared an emergency plan for on and offshore installations.
"The storm is still far from the shore of the Eastern province," Aramco spokesman Ziad al-Shiha said, referring to the area where most Saudi oil installations are located.
Kuwait's oil refining company said everything was working as normal there. Two shipping agents in the United Arab Emirates said yesterday no warning had been issued there. Operations on its eastern port of Fujairah were continuing as normal.
The weather centre of the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, an Opec oil exporter, said the cyclone was expected to bring rain tomorrow with clouds emerging over its eastern coast.
"Its full strength will become apparent in the next 24 hours. In 2002, we had a similar storm. They happen in the area from mid-May to the end of June," Salama Hashshad, an official at the Central Forecasting Unit told Reuters.
© Upstream 2007
