Storm Elsa seen heading for Florida, little threat to oil and gas facilities

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – Storm Elsa is set to move into the Caribbean later Friday, tracking across the mountainous islands of Hispaniola and Cuba, before heading towards Florida, keeping well away from offshore/onshore oil and gas facilities in the US Gulf coast.

"There is a risk of storm surge, wind, and rainfall impacts in the Florida keys and portions of the Florida Peninsula early next week," the US National Hurricane Center said in bulletin published at 11pm EDT Thursday.

Should storm Elsa take a more westerly track than current forecasts, the closest oil and gas facilities are the cluster of refineries in the New Orleans area of Louisiana.

But storms this time of the year are typically less threatening, with the more powerful storms usually from August onwards as the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico waters heat up.

Elsa is also expected to weaken over Hispaniola and Cuba. 

On current projections Elsa is expected to remain a tropical storm, although could potentially intensify enough to be a low-category hurricane.