Early Saturday, Hurricane Isaias is forecast to strike the US Gulf Coast as Tropical Storm Isaias

The National Hurricane Center reported that Tropical Storm Isaias formed?in the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday. It is expected to intensify into a Hurricane before hitting the southern US coastline early Saturday morning.

It is expected that the storm will pass through areas where there are significant offshore oil and?gas?production facilities and onshore refineries, which could put pressure on inventories and prices already high at the pump.

According to a model from Earth Science Associates, the storm could cause the loss of 11.2 million barrels across the Gulf during its 'duration.' This is a significant increase over the 7.1 millions barrels lost by Tropical Storm Bertha, which hit the Gulf in July.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects Isaias will?develop into an hurricane by Thursday, as it rapidly picks up its power over warm Gulf waters, before making landfall on Saturday morning, most likely along the Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida Panhandle coast. Early Wednesday, the storm was about 500 miles from Louisiana's coast.

In its latest bulletin, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Isaias may 'produce isolated rain amounts of up to 10 inches in parts of the Gulf Coast stretching from Louisiana all the way down to the Florida Panhandle.

The NHC warns that flash and urban flooding as well as isolated river flooding will be possible across the Southeast.

Isaias will likely encounter'strong upper-level wind shear', also known as vertical windshear, during the final 24 hour before it reaches?the northern Gulf Coast. This could weaken the storm.

NHC still says that it is "looking more probable" that Isaias could be a major hurricane by the time it reaches its coast.

(source: Reuters)