Oil fears as Ike eyes Gulf of Mexico

Hurricane Ike is swirling over the Gulf of Mexico and eyeing Texan offshore oil platforms, having torn through Cuba.

Now a Category 1 storm with 85mph winds, Ike left a long trail of destruction across the Caribbean and has energy companies fearing damage to their rigs while evacuating workers and shutting down production.

The Gulf of Mexico normally pumps about 1.5 million barrels per day of US crude and produces a quarter of oil and 15 per cent of the country's natural gas.

Ike is expected to regain power in the Gulf's warm waters and become a possible Category 3 or more storm, packing winds of more than 115mph.

In Cuba, four people were killed by Ike but the big waves and storm surges created when it struck the east of the country on Sunday are expected to subside later although heavy rains on the western end of the island could produce flash floods.

State-run media showed a trail of destruction across the island which is still reeling from the more powerful Hurricane Gustav ten days ago. Ike destroyed buildings, wiped out the electricity grid, toppled trees, flattened crops including sugar cane fields, and turned rivers into roaring torrents.

In the capital, Havana, Ike's winds and rain toppled at least 16 of the beautiful but crumbling old buildings and left streets littered with fallen trees, foliage and debris.

Ahead of Ike's landfall, around 2.6 million people were evacuated - 22 per cent of the country's 11.4 million population.

Before Cuba, Ike hit Britain's Turks and Caicos Islands and the southern Bahamas as a ferocious Category 4 hurricane. Floods triggered by its torrential rains were blamed for at least 71 deaths in Haiti, where Tropical Storm Hanna killed 500 last week.

The United Nations is launching an emergency appeal for money with about 800,000 people in Haiti in need of urgent help, nearly half of them children.

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