New York (Platts)--13Sep2007

Humberto was downgraded to a tropical storm late Thursday morning, but
left three refineries idled in Port Arthur, Texas, and a lengthy queue of
vessels attempting to enter and exit the crucial Houston Ship Channel.

     The storm came ashore early Thursday as a Category 1 hurricane near the 
Texas/Louisiana border along the Gulf of Mexico, packing winds of 80 mph and
heavy rains, according to the National Weather Service.

     A widespread power outage in Port Arthur, about 90 miles east of Houston,
forced the complete closure of refineries operated by Valero Energy, Motiva
Enterprises, and Total.

     Front month crude futures on NYMEX, pushed by strong RBOB gasoline, raced
to a fresh all-time high of $80.20/barrel on news of the multiple refinery
outages before retreating below the $80/b mark.

     "Due to an area-wide power outage in the Port Arthur, Texas, area, the
Valero Port Arthur refinery is shut down," company spokesman Bill Day said in
an e-mailed statement. "It is not yet clear how long this outage will last.
Valero is mobilizing equipment to assist the refinery."

     Valero's Port Arthur refinery has a crude processing capacity of 325,000
b/d. Day said production at Valero's refineries in Houston, Texas City and
Corpus Christi were not affected by Humberto.

     Shell officials confirmed market sources reports that the 285,000 b/d
Motiva refinery in Port Arthur was down. "The Motiva Port Arthur refinery was
affected and all units were shut down as a result early (Thursday) morning," a
statement from the company said.

     The statement added that "emergency and operations personnel are onsite
conducting assessments at this time."

     Motiva is owned 50-50 by Shell and Saudi Aramco.

     Notice of the closure of Total's 232,000 b/d refinery in Port Arthur came
in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

     "Total power failure at the plant due to Hurricane Humberto," the company
said in the filing. "Wind gusts up to 80 mph; power failures experienced
throughout the area." The filing added that Total was "working to access the
damage and restore power to the plant."

     Other than in Port Arthur, Humberto was mostly a non-event for refineries
in the region.

     ExxonMobil's 348,500 b/d refinery in Beaumont, Texas, was operating, 
though the company was assessing a "minor impact" from the storm, a
spokeswoman said.

	--Kevin Saville, kevin_saville@platts.com
	--Suzanne Evans, suzanne_evans@platts.com

     This is an except. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Oilgram
News at
http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?src=story
or subscribe now at
http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=1_29&products_id=29