An offshore oil port has been forced to close and workers are leaving oil platforms as Tropical Storm Edouard moves over the Gulf of Mexico.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned the region to brace itself for winds of up to 50mph (85 km/h).
It said hurricane-strength gusts could hit the US coast by Tuesday.
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Hurricane Dolly heads for Texas ... and two oil firms are evacuating workers from platforms, Reuters news agency said.
Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell said they were removing employees from rigs as a precaution, but both insisted that production had not been affected.
The Houston Ship Channel has also closed.
State of disaster
A hurricane watch was in place from west of Intracoastal City, Louisiana, to Port O'Connor, Texas.
At 1000 CDT (1600 BST) Edouard was 160 miles (260km) south-southeast of Lafayette, Louisiana and 265 miles (425km) east-southeast of Galveston, Texas, a statement by the NHC said.
"Edouard could be nearing hurricane strength before reaching the coastline," it added.
Rainfall of 3ins to 5ins (7.6cm to (12.7cm) was predicted in Louisiana, and up to 10 inches (25.4cm) in Texas.
With winds extending outwards from the centre of a tropical storm for 35 miles (75km), residents were braced for the second bout of severe weather to batter the Gulf's coastline in a month.
On 24 July, a state of disaster was declared in 14 Texas counties when Tropical Storm Dolly lashed the state's coast at hurricane-strength winds of 100mph (161km/h).
The Gulf of Mexico supplies about 25% of the US's crude oil.
However, oil prices fell by 70 cents to $124.40 (Ј63.30) a barrel.
(BBC)
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