Cyclone Gonu sweeps Oman, disrupts oil exports

DUBAI, June 6 (Reuters) Cyclone Gonu pounded Oman today, halting oil and gas exports for a second day and forcing thousands to flee the coast, but weakened as it moved through the Gulf of Oman, a major route for oil shipments.

The storm, which peaked to a maximum-force Category Five hurricane yesterday, has been downgraded to a Category One hurricane, with a maximum sustained wind speed of about 75 mph, the US military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.

Oman's meteorology department said the storm's centre made landfall in Oman around midnight and was moving northwest to Muscat, bringing torrential rains, strong winds and high waves.

''The eastern region has absorbed most of the impact but we expect the rain to continue tonight and early tomorrow as the cyclone moves northwest over Oman,'' director Ahmed al-Harthi told Reuters.

''There could be local rainfall on Friday but it should have finally dissipated by then.'' The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said it would reach Iran in the next two to three days but would continue to weaken.

A senior Iranian oil official said the cyclone was not expected to disrupt supplies from OPEC's number two exporter as its main terminals were inside the Gulf waterway.

In Oman, however, the country's only outlet for 650,000 barrels per day of crude exports, Mina al-Fahal, was shut for a second day as was the Sur terminal, which handles 10 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas.

The United Arab Emirates' eastern port of Fujairah, in the Gulf of Oman, has been cleared of anchored vessels and is closed to all ships until further notice, the state news agency said.

More than 100 ships are anchored along the Fujairah coastline and around 180 vessels, mainly oil tankers, pass through the area daily.

Lieutenant Commander Marn Balolong, meteorologist on the USS Nimitz, which is in the Gulf, said it would be unsafe for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in the next 48 hours but said they would speed up after that to return to schedule.

Shipping sources said there had been no disruption to oil tanker transit so far.

Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company by output, said the storm was too far away to affect its facilities and its tankers were made to withstand high seas. Abu Dhabi's ADNOC said it would not be affected either.

NO CASUALTIES Strong winds and heavy rain turned the deserted streets of Muscat into rivers as people heeded warnings to stay at home or shelter in buildings that could withstand strong winds.

''So far we have not confirmed any casualties. But the power is out and phones are disconnected in many areas so we just don't know for sure,'' Abdallah al-Harthi, spokesman for the Oman relief committee told Reuters.

Gonu has caused some material damage on the coast of both Oman and the UAE but not on a catastrophic scale. Waves pounded the eastern coast of the UAE and some residents were evacuated.

All private and public sector institutions, including the stock exchange, were closed until Sunday due to the storm.

Oman's airport was closed, an airport official said.

The port of Sohar, north of Muscat, was effectively closed too but had not been expecting any ships, an official said.

Oman's weather centre, which has been keeping records since 1890, says Gonu could be the strongest storm to reach Oman's coast since 1977 though meteorologists say milder tropical storms are common in the region from mid-May to the end of June.

Iranian state television said waves had reached six metres high and coastal residents had been told to avoid travel by sea.

''Tropical Cyclone Gonu ... is moving to the northwest parallel to the coast of Oman towards the Strait of Hormuz,'' said a report on The Weather Channel (www.weather.com).

It said heavy rain would continue for a day or two over southeastern Iran, northern Oman and the eastern UAE before Gonu hits land in Iran on Friday as a much weaker storm. There is no record of a tropical cyclone hitting Iran since 1945, it added.

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