Tropical Storm Edouard, the fifth tropical storm of the hurricane season in Atlantic this year, has formed near an oil and gas producing area of the northern Gulf of Mexico, on Sunday.

By 11 p.m. EDT, the storm was located around 80 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and was expected to come on the Texas coast being as strong as a hurricane. Edouard’s winds were in excess of 74 miles an hour, as the hurricane center said, so it could easily turn into a hurricane.

The tropical storm could turn into a hurricane within 36 hours, from the west coast of Intracoastal City in Louisiana, to Port O’Connor in Texas. A warning for tropical storm was issued westward from the Mississippi River to Cameron, Louisiana. Tropical storm conditions are expected within 24 hours.

By Tuesday, the sustained winds of Edouard reached 50 mph and the storm was moving at 5 mph to the west so it could reach the coast of southwestern Louisiana or the upper coast of Texas. The refineries in the Gulf Coast are threatened as the storm heads for the oil and gas producing area.

Considering the powerful hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 that destroyed oil rigs and pipelines in the Gulf, oil companies have hardly tried to strengthen platforms as to resist the strong hurricanes. The Gulf of Mexico produces nearly third of its crude and 15% of the natural gas.

This year’s hurricane season started on June 1. Hurricane Dolly came ashore on the southern Texas coast on July 23. Bertha became the longest storm to live in the Atlantic and Cristobal caused heavy rain in the Carolinas.