BP, Shell evacuating some staff from U.S. Gulf on storm threat

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil giants BP (BP.L) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) said on Friday they have started securing facilities and evacuating non-essential personnel from their drilling rigs and platforms in U.S. Gulf of Mexico as a precaution against a storm threat.

All other producers in the area said they were still monitoring the weather and had not evacuated anybody.

The National Hurricane Center said a disturbance near Cuba has a 20 percent chance of developing into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

(Reporting by Terry Wade and Liz Hampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)