While Tropical Storm Alex, which earlier formed in the Caribbean Sea, is likely to miss the spill area, it could generate waves that would impact cleanup efforts, experts said.

BP meanwhile reported progress in its oil recovery efforts, which include siphoning oil up through a containment cap to the Discoverer Enterprise ship on the surface and burning and flaring oil and gas collected on the Q4000, another rig.

"The weather is unpredictable, and we could have a sudden last-minute change," said Admiral Thad Allen, President Barack Obama's pointman on the disaster now into its second month.

Allen told reporters that oil recovery operations would have to be suspended for two weeks if Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, hits the area.

Such a stoppage would exacerbate the already devastating impact of the spill that has defiled the Gulf Coast's once pristine shorelines, killed wildlife and put a big dent in the region's multi-billion-dollar fishing industry.

It would also mean the estimated 30,000 to 65,000 barrels of oil gushing from a ruptured wellhead down on the seafloor would be billowing crude and gas unchecked for days.

An estimated 1.9 to 3.5 million barrels (80 to 150 million gallons) have poured into the Gulf since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20.

Alex was headed in a west-northwesterly direction and was expected to make landfall on the coast of Belize and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula late Saturday or early Sunday. But its path could change.

"The storm is not an issue for the spill," said NHC spokesman Dennis Feltgen.

"It may be going to Mexico. We do not see the path of the storm taking into the north-east Gulf -- but that doesn't mean there won't be some wave impact."

At 1500 GMT, Alex was located about 140 miles (225 kilometers) east of Belize City. It packed maximum sustained winds of nearly 45 miles (75 km) an hour. After dropping rain on the Central American nations, the storm was expected to turn toward the Gulf of Mexico.

A storm -- let alone a hurricane -- in the area would be yet another blow to BP, which has experienced a series of failures and mishaps in its recovery efforts.

Allen said vessels currently recuperating some of the oil and gas would need up to 120 hours to evacuate the site.

"If we get an indication that we have a chance for gale-force winds 120 hours before, we'll make the decision," he added before noting that "right now, we haven't met that threshold."

BP said it had recovered 24,550 barrels of oil on Friday, a 3.5 percent increase from its Thursday total. Since May, the first has collected approximately 413,000 barrels.

The firm's shares meanwhile plummeted to a 13-year low in London trading after BP ramped up the costs of the spill so far to 2.35 billion dollars. The company's share values have been cut by more than half since the disaster that killed 11 workers and unleashed the worst oil spill in US history.

The British energy giant said its plans to drill through 2.5 miles (four kilometers) of rock were on track. No permanent solution to the spill is expected before the relief wells are due to be completed in August.

Heavy drilling fluids would then be pumped into the existing well to drown the oil flow, allowing it to be plugged for good with cement.

Vice President Joe Biden heads to the region on Tuesday and is due to visit the New Orleans-based National Incident Command Center before traveling to the Florida panhandle.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Carol Browner, who heads the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, will also visit.

On Saturday, activists and southeast Louisiana residents gathered at area beaches to hold hands and show their support for clean energy and oppose offshore drilling.

The "Hands Across the Sand" event is taking place in all US states and some 30 countries, according to the organizers.

"It's time to stand up to the oil industry. It's time to move America beyond oil and into a clean energy future," said Aaron Viles, Campaign Director of the Gulf Restoration Network.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal declared Sunday a "Statewide Day of Prayer for perseverance during the oil spill crisis."

Jindal, a Republican politician of Indian descent, opposes the six-month moratorium imposed on exploratory offshore drilling, claiming it will only compound the state's suffering.

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