Conditions are ripe for another above-average hurricane season that could potentially send ripples throughout natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) over the next three months, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a new forecast.

Should the NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecast bear out, it would mark the sixth consecutive year of above-average tropical storm activity. In 2020, there were 30 named storms – the most active on record – and a dozen made landfall in the continental United States. The previous record for the most storms was 28 in 2005.

NOAA scientists predicted that the likelihood of an above-normal 2021 Atlantic hurricane season is 65%. They estimated a 25% chance of a near-normal season and only a 10% chance of a...