Walter Morton

U.S. Oil and Gas Producer Exposure to Gulf Area Hurricanes

In the WSJ today, they cited data from Colorado State Univ. researcher William Gray released his newest forecast Thursday -- an expectation for 17 named storms and nine hurricanes, five of them intense.
Dr. Gray described 2007 as a very active season. He said there was a 74% chance of a major hurricane making landfall somewhere on the U.S. coast. There is a 50% chance of a major hurricane making landfall on the East Coast, including the Florida Peninsula, according to the new forecast; the long-term average is 31 percent.
The chance of a major hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast between the Florida Panhandle and Brownsville, Texas, is 49 percent; the long-term average is 30 percent. There is also an above-average chance of a major hurricane making landfall in the Caribbean, according to the forecast.