WTI crude oil futures open Friday’s trading session flat around $89 a barrel ahead of yet another tropical storm that has prompted oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico to begin another round of evacuations of nonessential workers. Latest WTI Oil Price US Light crude oil futures for October 2011 delivery was trading at $89.01, 07.45 GMT this morning in electronic trading on the NYMEX. Tropical Storm Nate Tropical Storm Nate, the 14th named storm this year was gaining strength and could become a hurricane today or Saturday, the US National Hurricane Center has warned. US crude oil inventories dropped as imports slid more than 1 million barrels per day with offloading hampered by Hurricane Irene’s passage through the US East Coast. Nate currently is located some 250 miles east of Veracruz, Mexico. The latest track forecast would appear to put Nate about 200 miles southeast of Brownsville, Texas, by next Tuesday. But forecasters note considerable uncertainty in that track, with some models sending Nate toward toward the northern Gulf coast while others indicate a turn toward Mexico. Much hinges on how Nate interacts with circulation patterns governing a weather system taking shape over the Ohio Valley. NAte could make landfall within the next three days, according to the US National Hurricane Center. BP has started evacuating personnel from its Mad Dog, Holstein and Atlantis platforms in the Southern Green Canyon field.

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