Gonu only cyclone in Oman Gulf in 30 years -expert

LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) One or two tropical storms swirl around the Arabian Sea each year but cyclone Gonu, which pounded Oman today, is the first to barge into the Gulf of Oman in over 30 years, a UK tropical weather scientist said.

''It works out that in the last 30 years, Oman would get hit by a tropical cyclone of some sort every five years or so,'' Julian Heming, tropical prediction scientist at the UK's Met Office, said on Wednesday.

''But that's Oman as a whole...This one has taken a very specific track which has allowed it to go right into the Gulf of Oman,'' he said.

Although it has weakened since entering the Gulf, Gonu has already halted oil and gas exports from the Middle Eastern oil producer as it enters one of the busiest shipping areas in the world, forcing thousands to flee coastal areas of Oman.

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

The last tropical cyclone to hit Oman was in 2002, before that there was one in 1998, 1996, 1992. But those stuck the country further south, Heming said.

''I think there is one occasion where a storm has got close to doing that before but as far as the record for the last 30 years or so there hasn't been one that has found its way right up into the Gulf like this one has.'' The storm, which peaked to a maximum-force Category Five hurricane yesterday, has been downgraded to Category One hurricane, with a maximum sustained wind speed of about 75 mph, the US military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center said.

The other cyclones that swell up in the Arabian Sea can hit anywhere from India or Pakistan to Somalia in east Africa. Many never make it to land, dying out at sea.

REUTERS AM RK2250