Officials Lift Ike Evacuation for Florida Keys

An evacuation of the Florida Keys was canceled beacause of the latest forecast that Hurricane Ike has changed course this afternoon.

An evacuation of the islands started over the weekend but new forecasts show the storm veering south and west of the islands.

Mark Shenk of Bloomberg is reporting this afternoon that oil companies are starting to remove its crews from platforms in the Gulf:

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc evacuated workers from Gulf platforms in preparation for the storm. About 80 percent of the region's oil output and 70 percent of its gas production remained shut yesterday because of Hurricane Gustav, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service.

``All eyes are on Ike and how strong he might be,'' said Rick Mueller, director of oil markets at Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Wakefield, Massachusetts. ``Rather than return workers to platforms and then evacuate them again within days, oil companies will probably leave production shut-in longer than would be the norm after a storm with the strength of Gustav.''

Crude oil for October delivery rose 75 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $106.98 a barrel at 10:04 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 40 percent from a year ago.

Gasoline for October delivery increased 7.42 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $2.7603 a gallon in New York. Heating oil rose 4.19 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $3.0247 a gallon.

Ike's eventual path is still a mystery, as forecast models have its landfall on the southern U.S. coastline anywhere from Louisiana to Texas.