Texas refineries restart after storm, ships moving

HOUSTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Two Port Arthur, Texas, refineries were restarting on Friday and a third refiner had some electricity restored after Hurricane Humberto battered the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Total Petrochemicals USA (TOTF.PA) and Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) said they were restarting their Port Arthur refineries on Friday.

Shell Oil Co (RDSa.L) said some power was restored at the 285,000 barrel per day (bpd) joint venture Motiva Enterprises refinery in Port Arthur.

Valero said its 325,000 bpd refinery was expected to be back at full production by late next week.

Total did not have an estimate available Friday on when its 232,000 bpd refinery would be back at full production, but the company said in a regulatory filing Thursday the restart process was likely to last five days.

The last of three Gulf Coast ship channels along which tankers carry crude oil to refineries in Texas and Louisiana reopened early on Friday morning after being shut due to rough seas caused by Humberto, ship pilots said.

A backlog of ships waiting to transit the Houston Ship Channel, the busiest U.S. petrochemical port, was rapidly being reduced, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The number of waiting ships was not immediately available.

U.S. crude oil futures fell in early trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday, with October crude dropping below record highs hit on Thursday when Humberto knocked the Port Arthur refineries offline.

TEPPCO TPP.N pipelines carrying refined products from the U.S. Gulf Coast to the Midwest were operating below full capacity as of Friday morning due to storm-caused power outages, a company spokesman said.