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Coast Guard aims to reopen La. channel in next 2 days

Posted on: Thursday, 29 June 2006, 07:52 CDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday it hopes to reopen in the "next couple of days" the rest of the Calcasieu Ship Channel in Louisiana, the main artery for fresh crude shipments to three oil refineries.

However, that will depend on a how a vessel test run through the channel affects continuing clean-up efforts from an oil spill last week that closed part of the waterway, according to Coast Guard spokesman Adam Wine.

The test run had been scheduled for Wednesday but has now been pushed back to the morning or early afternoon of Thursday, he added.

The blocked waterway has forced the three refineries to cut fuel production, rekindling gasoline supply fears just before the travel-heavy July 4 holiday weekend.

The U.S. Department of Energy said it would lend 750,000 barrels of crude oil from the emergency stockpile to two of the refiners, Citgo Petroleum Corp. and ConocoPhillips, to help them continue to produce fuel as they await a resumption of shipments on the channel.

The Coast Guard opened about nine miles of the channel early on Wednesday. Later in the day, a spokesman said it hoped to reopen the rest before the weekend, but that it may not reopen until early next week depending on how clean-up efforts went.

Source: REUTERS

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