Gulf of Mexico oil companies watching new storm Noel

HOUSTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. oil and natural gas producers said on Sunday they were watching Tropical Storm Noel in the Caribbean Sea for possible movement into Gulf of Mexico production areas later this week.

"We're closely monitoring it," said Scott Scheffler of Marathon Oil Corp (MRO.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

Computer models, as is normal in the early life of a storm, show a range of possible directions for Noel, which was south of Haiti on Sunday afternoon.

The models all show the storm crossing Cuba and then either entering the Gulf of Mexico or heading for the Florida peninisula or turning east into Atlantic Ocean.

"We are aware of it," Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) spokesman John Christiansen said. "We're just monitoring it now."

The Gulf of Mexico provides about one-quarter of U.S. oil production and about 15 percent of U.S. natural gas production.

Devastating hurricanes Katrina and Rita shut 25 percent of U.S. oil output and about a quarter of U.S. refinery production in 2005.

Noel formed with little more than a month left in the Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30.