Miami - Tropical Storm Alex, expected to intensify into a hurricane on Tuesday, may not deliver a direct hit to the fleet of ships, aircraft and workers responding to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the storm will delay plans to capture more of the crude gushing from the undersea well.

High seas and winds from Alex pushed back the scheduled start of the Helix Producer, a ship that is expected to nearly double BP's capacity to capture oil with a system of containment domes and pipes.

Though the storm was churning 650 miles southwest of the Deepwater Horizon well head Monday morning, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man on the spill, said Alex could by Wednesday produce 10- to 12-foot seas in the immediate area of the response effort.

"We're going to have to stop preparations for the Helix Producer," he said, adding that the storm also could push oil farther inland to marshes and bays.

The floating oil production and storage ship was supposed to be ready by the end of June or early July, according to BP's initial projections. The ship will be attached to a containment dome via a floating riser pipe, and have the capacity to collect 20,000 to 25,000 barrels of oil a day.

While the storm is forecast to land far from the site of the Deepwater Horizon well head, there is no certainty in weather predictions.