Latest storms pose no risk to U.S. oil rigs in Gulf: National Hurricane Center

Reuters: Despite a tropical storm and a tropical depression spinning in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, nothing currently threatens the U.S. oil and natural gas production in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Wednesday.

In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Karen continued to strengthen and was currently packing maximum sustained winds of nearly 50 miles per hour. The NHC, however, does not expect Karen to strengthen into a hurricane with winds over 74 mph over the next five days.

The center of Karen was located about 1,285 miles east of the Windward Islands (Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines and Grenada) at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), the NHC said in a report. Karen will not pose any danger to land over the next five days or so, according to the weather models.

Tropical Depression 13 remained weak with winds near 30 mph but will likely strengthen into a tropical storm (winds 39-73 mph) over the next 24 hours. The NHC will name the next tropical storm Lorenzo. It did not expect TD-13 to strengthen into a hurricane before moving inland over central Mexico and dissipating over the next 96 hours…