Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Sherritt International Corp., the biggest foreign producer of oil and gas in Cuba, cut nickel production on the island and sent some of its workers there to shelters as hurricane Ivan approached.

The storm, with sustained winds of almost 160 miles per hour (257 kilometers per hour) is on track to skirt the western edge of Cuba this afternoon, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, and hurricane advisories extend as far east as the city of Cienfuegos. Ivan, which has claimed at least 60 lives in the Caribbean, initially was expected to strike Havana before it shifted west.

``A number of our operations are in the Havana to Varadero belt, or further to the east near Santiago, so they're somewhat distant from where the hurricane track is,'' Ernie Lalonde, spokesman for Sherritt, said from the company's head office in Toronto. ``Moving two steps to the left was useful.''

Sherritt boarded up windows, took down drill rigs and cleaned up debris to prevent it from blowing around, Lalonde said. The company is following the hurricane plan it developed during ten years in Cuba.

The Cuban government turned off electricity supplies to many areas so there won't be live power lines on the ground after the storm moves through, Lalonde said.

Sherritt operates a natural gas-fired plant in Cuba that's capable of generating 226 megawatts of electricity and mines nickel on the island. Its Cuban operations accounted for 31 percent of the company's C$820.8 million of revenue last year.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Joe Schneider in Toronto at
or jschneider5@bloomberg.net.