Hurricane concerns cause logistics issues in Houston

Edouard forces closure of Houston ship channel

By Dave Hannon -- Purchasing, 8/4/2008 9:37:00 AM

With Tropical Storm Edouard due to hit the Texas coast in the next 24 hours, the U.S. Coast Guard has temporarily closed the Houston ship channel to tankers, but experts say refinery operations in the region may not have to close.

“I'd imagine the channel would be reopened Wednesday evening or Wednesday afternoon," said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston in an interview with Bloomberg. "I don't think, frankly, that any of the Houston-area refiners are going to shut down."

Reuters reports that the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only deep-water U.S. oil port, temporarily suspended offloading oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico due to high waves and winds but the port's onshore storage continued to supply refiners with crude on-hand.

Chevron and Shell had evacuated workers from oil platforms in the Gulf as a precaution, but ExxonMobil Corp. had not evacuated any workers or cut production by Sunday evening, but the company was preparing its platforms for heavy wind and rain and considering whether to evacuate some workers, spokeswoman Margaret Ross told the Associated Press.