Bonnie could strengthen as heads for Gulf

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Tropical Storm Bonnie could come back to life over the Gulf of Mexico after it weakened on its trek across south Florida on Friday and was downgraded to a tropical depression.The weather system was heading out over the energy-rich Gulf on Friday evening, where it still threatened the U.S. oil patch.The U.S. National Hurricane Center reclassified the short-lived tropical cyclone after its top sustained winds decreased to near 35 miles (56 km) per hour, and some U.S. forecasters said high wind shear could cause it to dissipate over the next day.But Bonnie could rev back up as it feeds off warm Gulf waters. "Bonnie could regain tropical storm strength as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico," the Miami-based hurricane center said.The storm has been on a track expected to take it over the site of BP Plc's deepwater oil spill on Saturday afternoon.At 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT), the center of the storm had entered the eastern Gulf, about 45 miles (72 km) west-northwest of Ft. Myers, Florida, and it was moving west-northwest at 18 miles (29 km) per hour, the hurricane center said.Oil and natural gas producers in the Gulf evacuated many offshore workers on Friday, and the U.S. government said 28.3 percent of Gulf oil production and 10.4 percent of gas output had been shut down ahead of the storm.Two rigs drilling relief wells intended to permanently plug BP's deepwater Gulf oil gusher were preparing on Friday to move out of Bonnie's path.The evacuation could push back BP's mid-August target date for ending the worst oil spill in U.S. history, but the blown-out Macondo well will remain capped during the halt in operations.The Gulf of Mexico is home to about 30 percent of U.S. oil production, 11 percent of natural gas production and more than 43 percent of U.S. refinery capacity.Bonnie, which had packed top sustained winds of about 40 miles per hour (64 kph), doused much of south Florida with heavy rains as it moved across the peninsula earlier on Friday.There were no reports of significant damage or storm surge, however. Forecasters said there was also virtually no chance that Bonnie could become a hurricane before its make landfall again, anywhere between the Louisiana coast and Florida's northwest Panhandle late on Saturday.Bonnie was the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.Forecasters say this year's hurricane season is expected to be especially active.(Reporting by Tom Brown, editing by Philip Barbara)(For more news on Reuters India, click http://in.reuters.com)

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