Storm Ida revives, churns toward Gulf of Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Ida regained strength off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday and spun north toward the Gulf of Mexico, where it could again become a hurricane.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ida, which had weakened to a depression on Thursday, now carried maximum sustained winds of nearly 70 mph and was located about 200 miles southwest of Cozumel, Mexico.

The center said Ida could become a hurricane later on Saturday or overnight but forecasters expected the storm to weaken as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico.

Skies were sunny and clear on Saturday in the Mexican resort of Cancun, and Ida is expected to pass east of the city on Sunday afternoon.

Mexico issued a hurricane watch for the Yucatan peninsula from the resort of Tulum to Cabo Catoche, north of Cancun.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Grand Cayman Island and for the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio, the Miami-based NHC said.

The Mexican government urged people to avoid unnecessary travel in the Yucatan peninsula and imposed restrictions on coastal shipping.

Mexico's state oil monopoly, Pemex, which has extensive operations in the Gulf of Mexico, activated its hurricane contingency program but oil and gas production was unaffected, a company spokesman said.

U.S. energy companies said on Friday they were monitoring the storm's progress but had not yet begun evacuating any production platforms.

The Gulf of Mexico accounts for a quarter of U.S. domestic oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output. The Gulf Coast is also home to 40 percent of the nation's refining capacity.

Ida dumped heavy rain along Nicaragua's Caribbean coast earlier in the week, but there were no reports of fatalities. The country's coffee crop was not directly affected by the storm, according to the local coffee council.

(Additional reporting by Jose Cortazar in Cancun)

(Reporting by Robert Campbell; Editing by Philip Barbara and Paul Simao)