Oil Gains on Concern Over New Hurricane

Oil prices rose early Tuesday on concerns that newly formed Hurricane Gustav may be on track to move into the Gulf of Mexico, the Associated Press reported.

Oil rose 58 cents to $115.69 a barrel in pre-market electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after gaining 52 cents Monday to close at $115.11.

Gustav was running on a westerly track along Haiti’s south coast early Tuesday and was projected to move along Cuba’s southern coast over the next few days, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Following that, the storm could move into the Gulf of Mexico early next week, according to NHC’s Web site.

In 2005, two big hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, severely disrupted oil refining operations on the Louisiana and Texas coasts, leading to a record jumps in oil, diesel and gasoline prices.

Katrina, the first of the two storms, made landfall near New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005.