Hurricane Dennis Strengthens in Carribbean, Tracking Toward Gulf Coast

Hurricane Dennis strengthened into a Category 4 storm on the five-step scale used to measure such systems, the most powerful hurricane on record this early in the season, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

The storm, which was expected to move across Cuba on Friday and reach the U.S. mainland by early next week, had sustained winds in excess of 135 mph.

Oil companies and analysts have said they fear the storm could disrupt supplies from the Gulf Coast, which handles millions of barrels of imported oil and domestically produced oil from rigs in the Gulf. The area is also an important refining region.

The price of oil has rose above $62 for the first time ever this week primarily because of weather concerns. It was sitting at $60.73 in early trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday, up $1.98, or 3.4%, since Monday.