Ernesto weakens as it edges closer to Mexican coast

Reuters: Tropical Storm Ernesto weakened as it neared the coast of Mexico on Thursday, sending wind gusts and showers across the state of Veracruz, home to some of Mexico's busiest ports and oil installations. The storm's maximum sustained wind strength dropped to 60 mph and it was drifting slowly just off the coast, 5 miles east of Coatzacoalcos, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said in its 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) advisory.

Mexico's government downgraded a hurricane warning for the coast of Veracruz to a tropical storm warning and the NHC said further weakening was expected as Ernesto moved over mountainous terrain on the mainland. There were no reports of disruptions to state-run oil company Pemex's facilities in the south of the Gulf of Mexico, which include the Minatitlan refinery, producing 185,000 barrels of crude per day.

The eye of the storm had passed the oilfields of Cantarell and Ku Maloob Zaap, which account for just over half of Mexico's oil production of about 2.5 million bpd.

Coatzacoalcos is home to one of Mexico's key oil exporting ports, which has been closed since Wednesday along with Cayo Arcas and Dos Bocas. Almost all of Mexico's crude oil exports, which totaled 1.425 million bpd in June, are shipped to refineries on the Gulf Coast of the United States from the three ports....

Tropical Storm Ernesto on August 6, 2012, via NASA