The remnants of Tropical Storm Bonnie weakened further on Saturday and the U.S. National Hurricane Center said the system was barely clinging to life over the Gulf of Mexico, according to Reuters. "It's rapidly degenerating into a remnant low," Dave Roberts, a forecaster at the Miami-based hurricane center, said of Bonnie, which no longer threatened the Gulf oil patch. He said the storm, which weakened into a tropical depression on Friday, could fall apart completely before it makes landfall on Saturday evening. The hurricane center had earlier lifted all coastal tropical storm warnings associated with Bonnie. The approach of the storm had hampered efforts by BP Plc to permanently plug its leaking oil well in the Gulf. It also prompted oil and natural gas producers to evacuate many offshore workers, shutting in more than half of crude oil production in U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf and about 25 percent of gas output. BP said on Saturday that a relief well rig and other vessels dealing with the spill, which had moved out due to the storm threat earlier, were preparing to return to the site of the blown-out Macondo well. The Gulf of Mexico is home to about 30 percent of U.S. oil production, 11 percent of natural gas production and more than 43 percent of U.S. refinery capacity. At 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) the hurricane center said Tropical Depression Bonnie still had top sustained winds of nearly 30 miles (48 km) per hour. It was on a track that would see it make landfall between southeast Louisiana and Alabama. Bonnie was the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1 and runs through Nov. 30. Forecasters say this year's hurricane season is expected to be especially active.
