Houston (Platts)--25Jul2008

"Very limited" vessel movement was being allowed inside a 100-mile
stretch of the lower Mississippi River, which otherwise remains officially
closed following Wednesday's fuel oil spill, the US Coast Guard said Friday.

Included in the restricted movements are two oil barges that were allowed
to travel to and depart from the refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, owned
jointly by ExxonMobil and Venezuela's state PDVSA, a Coast Guard spokesman
said.

"Very limited vessel movement is being allowed, only with Coast Guard
Captain of the Port approval," a statement from the agency said. "The Coast
Guard Captain of the Port has contacted several vessels and allowed them to
move through the safety zone, to a de-contamination site."

Petty Officer Nick Ameen said two of the vessels permitted to transit the
restricted zone were tugboats towing barges for the 193,000 b/d Chalmette
refinery.

Another vessel allowed to move to the de-contamination site is an oil
tanker, but the final destination or specific contents of the oil tanker was
not available, USCG Petty Officer Chris McLaughlin said. Information as to the
contents of the other vessel cargo allowed to move to a de-contamination site
was also not available, McLaughlin said.

About 90 vessels were still stalled due to the 100-mile closure of the
river, McLaughlin said. The river closed around New Orleans early Wednesday
after a collision between a chemical tanker and a fuel oil barge spilled about
10,000 barrels of fuel oil into the river.

Salvage operations to remove a submerged portion of the damaged barge are
"still in the works," McLaughlin said, adding that a traffic safety zone has
been established around the obstruction.

Refineries operating along the lower Mississippi near New Orleans said
their operations were largely unaffected as of Friday morning (story 1519
GMT). Any closure of the river raises the possibility of delays in waterborne
crude deliveries and outbound barge shipments of refined products. A refinery
could be forced to lower its crude runs should on-site feedstocks dwindle, or
if refined products cannot be shipped to market.

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