Houston Ship Channel Reopened After Gustav Passes

By Jim Polson

Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The Houston Ship Channel, which serves the largest U.S. petroleum port, reopened this morning, a day after it was shut to inbound traffic as Hurricane Gustav pounded the Gulf Coast.

Port restrictions were lifted at 8:45 a.m. local time, the U.S. Coast Guard said today in a statement posted on its Web site. About 49 ships were waiting to enter Galveston Bay, which serves the ports of Houston, Texas City and Galveston, according to the statement. Three vessels were waiting to leave.

The port at Freeport, Texas, home to the ConocoPhillips Sweeny refinery, remained shut to inbound traffic, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Houston has the second-biggest U.S. port of any kind by tonnage. The area's eight refineries have a combined processing capacity of 2.22 million barrels a day, which represents 13 percent of the U.S. total, according to their owners and the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.

Companies with refineries served through Galveston Bay include Exxon Mobil Corp., Valero Energy Corp., BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and Lyondell Chemical Co.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jim Polson in New York at jpolson@bloomberg.net.