Tropical storm Felix could become hurricane

By Matthew Bigg

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Felix could become a hurricane Saturday night or on Sunday in the Caribbean and may be a Category 3 hurricane by the middle of next week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Saturday.

Felix had maximum sustained winds of near 70 mph (110 kph) and was moving west Saturday afternoon after skirting the Caribbean island of Grenada overnight. It would pass near or to the north of the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

"Felix could become a hurricane later tonight or on Sunday," the hurricane center said.

A projection on the Weather Underground Web site for 8 a.m. Sunday showed Felix becoming a Category 1 hurricane on the five-stage Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane strength, meaning it would have sustained winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph).

"We are forecasting it to be a Category 3 hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean Sea by the middle of the week," said forecaster Eric Blake of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

There were no indications the storm would reach the Gulf of Mexico, home to a third of U.S. domestic crude oil and 15 percent of natural gas production. But long-range forecasts are unreliable, the center said.

Energy markets have watched tropical storms and hurricanes closely since the devastating Atlantic hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005, when storms like Ivan, Katrina and Rita disrupted supplies.

At 5 p.m. EDT, Felix was 395 miles south of San Juan, Puerto Rico and was moving at about 18 mph (30 kph), with winds expected to strengthen in the next 24 hours, the hurricane center said.