U.S. oil producers were scrambling on Monday to evacuate staff from Gulf of Mexico oil production platforms as the second major hurricane in two weeks was predicted to tear through offshore oil producing fields.

Operators in the US Gulf of Mexico have continued to decelerate production and evacuate personnel as the latest cyclone, named Tropical Storm Helene, is making its way toward the Florida coast later this week.

It is still very early in the forecast period, but most models predict the interaction between the high pressure to the east and the upper low sitting across the mid-south will produce the east weighted track.