HOUSTON (Reuters) - The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season will be near average in the number of storms, but there is a higher risk of a destructive storm hitting the U.S. East Coast, AccuWeather.com predicted on Monday.

Joe Bastardi, AccuWeather's chief long-range and hurricane forecaster, said in an updated forecast he expects a total of 12 named storms in the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season.

Two or three of the named storms would likely affect energy production areas in the Gulf of Mexico, which produces 25 percent of U.S. domestic crude oil and 15 percent of domestic natural gas, Bastardi said.

"Every three years there's usually one major storm in the Gulf," Bastardi said in an interview in Houston.