Newly formed Tropical Storm Dean in the eastern Atlantic is forecast to become a hurricane by the end of the week. Dean, which began Monday as a depression midway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles, is about 1,140 miles west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said on its website at 4 pm EDT Tuesday. Sustained winds are about 40 mph and the storm is moving toward the Caribbean at 21 mph. Dean has a good probability of becoming "the first hurricane of the Atlantic season as it tracks west over warmer waters," said meteorologist Dennis Feltgen of the National Hurricane Center. "It's certainly not a threat to land in the next 72 hours, but after then, it could run into the northeastern Caribbean, in particular Puerto Rico." Residents of areas from the Gulf of Mexico to the southeastern US should keep an eye on the system, the National Weather Service advised. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest oil company, evacuated some staff from the Gulf of Mexico as a safety precaution. About 100 people were expected to be evacuated Tuesday after 88 were removed Monday, the company said on Monday in a statement on its website. Dean could strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 74 to 95 mph in two to three days and a Category 2 (winds of 96 to 110 mph) or Category 3 (winds of 111 to 130 mph) in four or five days, the National Hurricane Center said. Tropical Storm Dean is the fourth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic Basin season. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com