(Corrects direction of hurricane in headline.)

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Dean strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds reaching at least 135 miles (215 kilometers) per hour, as it continued into the eastern Caribbean Sea.

Hurricane conditions are likely along the Southern Coast of the Dominican Republic and Guadeloupe and its dependencies within the next day, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Hurricane conditions are likely to reach Jamaica within 36 hours.

The storm is expected to get stronger when it enters the Gulf of Mexico early next week. Forecasters said there was a chance it could reach Category 5, the highest level for tropical systems.

Dean's center was 800 miles (1290 kilometers) east- southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and heading west near 19 miles per hour, the hurricane center said in an 8 p.m. local time advisory. Hurricane force winds are extending up to 30 miles.

Dean is on a path to reach the Gulf of Mexico by Aug. 22 at Category 4 strength or higher.

``I wouldn't rule out Dean could hit the Texas coast as a Category 5,'' said Hugh Cobb, a hurricane specialist at the center in Miami. ``It's still a long ways out to predict, but given the ocean's warmer waters and low wind shear, conditions are ideal for it to strengthen.''

Private forecaster AccuWeather Inc. said in a statement released today that if the storm remains on its current track, it could make ``landfall just north of Brownsville, Texas, and may bring significant rain to areas that have just received precipitation from Erin.''

Texas Threat

Texas Governor Rick Perry today declared the hurricane an imminent threat to the state. He activated state resources, including 250 Texas Military Forces command personnel to support the potential deployment of up to 10,000 soldiers and 250 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department crews with boats. The Texas Department of Transportation began displaying advisories to residents to keep their gas tanks full.

Mexico's interior ministry said it is ready to provide funds to the southeastern state of Quintana Roo because of the ``high probability'' Hurricane Dean will hit its coastline.

State authorities requested the funds for food, clothes and medical attention that the population of eight municipalities may need, the ministry said today in an e-mailed statement.

The Gulf of Mexico accounts for about 27 percent of U.S. oil production and 15 percent of gas output, according to U.S. Energy Department figures.

Concern

``The combination of Dean's projected explosive development expected late this weekend, along with some tracking models starting to indicate a northward shift, concern me,'' Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist for Planalytics Inc., said in a note today. ``I believe the western half of the Gulf energy production area is now threatened.''

Transocean Inc., the world's largest offshore driller, said it will evacuate its most westerly rig in the Gulf of Mexico as a precaution for Hurricane Dean.

All 92 workers aboard the semi-submersible Transocean Amirante rig, moored 151 miles southwest of Kaplan, Louisiana, will be evacuated, company spokesman Guy Cantwell said today. In the past two days, he said, the Houston-based company pulled 75 workers who aren't essential to drilling operations from the Amirante and three other rigs.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest oil company, shut two oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico and evacuated personnel from platforms, which may be in the track of Hurricane Dean, the company said in a statement. The 188 people it evacuated from a natural gas field 75 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, because of Tropical Storm Erin will remain onshore until Dean's path is determined, the company said.

Shell, which has about 1,400 workers offshore, has shuttered output of 5 million cubic feet a day from the North Padre Island 975 field. The two sub-sea wells it shut, which are linked to the Brutus platform, pumped 2,000 barrels of crude and 2 million cubic feet of gas a day.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Riddell in Washington at kriddell1@bloombergn.netJames Temple in San Francisco at jtemple@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 17, 2007 21:49 EDT