Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas companies were forced to shut their offshore production and a major gas hub as Tropical Storm Ida, which is of category 2 hurricane, churned towards landfall between the states of Mississippi and Florida.

According to the reports, US’s 25% of domestically produced oil and 15% of natural gas are produced in the Gulf. The Gulf Coast constitutes about 40% refining capacity of the US.

The storm threat caused the oil prices to increase by $1.70 to over $79 a barrel in early US trading.

According to a US coast guard, the ship traffic along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico was also shut down.

The refineries along the US Gulf Coast, including Chalmette, Motiva’s Norco refinery, and Chevron’s Pascagoula had taken preliminary steps to be ready for possible high winds.