Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Fay formed out of an area of low pressure over the eastern Caribbean Sea today and may pose a threat to Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

The system was located over the Dominican Republic as of 5 p.m. New York time. It was moving west at 14 miles (22 kilometers) per hour, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center's Web site. Fay is the sixth named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.

The hurricane center projects the storm's track could pass over the eastern Gulf of Mexico by Monday. The Gulf is home to more than a quarter of U.S. oil production.

``The eastern rigs aren't out of the woods yet,'' said Jim Rouiller, senior energy meteorologist with Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania. ``It would be very easy for this storm to hook up into the eastern Gulf.''

Rouiller said he expects the storm to start turning west- northwest sometime this weekend.

``Florida is under the gun,'' Rouiller said by telephone. ``Those who have an interest in the eastern Gulf of Mexico have to keep on top of this.''

The warm water off Florida may help the storm intensify into a hurricane quickly, Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at private forecaster Weather Underground Inc., wrote in his blog.

``The eventual strength is highly dependent on the track,'' Masters wrote. ``With a longer track over water giving it a greater chance of becoming a hurricane.''

Tropical storms have sustained winds of at least 39 mph. A hurricane has minimum sustained winds of 74 mph.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 15, 2008 17:04 EDT