Louisiana oil refineries start recovering from Hurricane Francine
Combines earlier stories, adds other refineries in paragraphs 6-14
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) -Six oil refineries in Louisiana in the path of Hurricane Francine began recovering on Thursday from the storm's passage overnight, companies and sources familiar with operations at the plants said.
ExxonMobil XOM.N said there appeared to be little significant damage atits 522,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery on Thursday.
"Our Baton Rouge area facilities are operating as normal. We continue to meet customer commitments," said Exxon spokesperson Lauren Kight.
The Baton Rouge refinery's production was approaching maximum output on Thursday morning, said people familiar with plant operations. Exxon reduced the refinery's production to as low as 20% of its capacityduring the storm's landfall and passage north through Louisiana overnight.
The Baton Rouge refinery is the sixth largest in the United States by capacity, according the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Marathon Petroleum MPC.N declined on Thursday to discuss the status of its 597,0000-bpd Garyville, Louisiana, refinery, the fourth largest in the U.S.
A source familiar with the plant operations did not have information about the refinery's status. Several large power outages were reported by regional power provider Entergy in the Garyville area.
The diesel-producing hydrocracker at Shell Plc's SHEL.L 233,702-bpd Norco, Louisiana, refinery was shut by the hurricane on Wednesday night, two people familiar with plant operations said on Thursday.
Shell continues to assess the damage affecting the 40,000-bpd hydrocracker at the refinery on Thursday morning, the two sources said.
Shell in an online statement confirmed damage assessment was underway at Norco and nearby chemical plants.
"At this early stage, there does not appear to be serious damage from wind, rain or storm surge at the facilities," the company said.
PBF Energy's 190,000-bpd Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery was operating normally on Thursday, a source familiar with plant operations said.
A PBF spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment.
A Valero spokesperson did not reply to a request for comment about the company's 215,000-bpd St. Charles refinery in Norco nor the 125,000-bpd refinery in Meraux, Louisiana.
Reporting by Erwin Seba
Editing by Marguerita Choy and Christian Schmollinger
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