UPDATE 3-Fog halts tankers to U.S. Gulf refineries

(Updates with eight ships moved into Houston during partial opening, channels reclosed late Monday)

HOUSTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Fog that halted ships serving big oil refineries in parts of Texas and Louisiana late Sunday lifted for a few hours, letting some ships move, but the channels were socked in again late Monday, officials said.

Eight ships, including five tankers, made it into the Houston area, the biggest U.S. petrochemical complex, before pilots closed the bar again for lack of visibility, the Coast Guard said. No ships moved outbound.

No inbounders moved into Beaumont or Port Arthur along the Sabine-Neches Waterway in East Texas or the Calcasieu Ship Channel serving Lake Charles in western Louisiana, though four outbounders sailed, pilots and Coast Guard officials said.

Fog is an intermittent problem in winter along the Gulf Coast, a major U.S. refining center. Plants in Houston and Texas City alone account for 13.45 percent of U.S. refining capacity. Previous multiday shutdowns of Gulf Coast ship channels have forced refineries to cut production because of tight crude oil supplies.

At Houston, the break in the fog lasted from noon CST (1800 GMT) to 4 p.m. CST (2200 GMT). At Galveston, entrance to the Houston Ship Channel, the window lasted from 10:30 a.m. CST (1630 GMT) to 4 p.m. CST (2200 GMT), the Coast Guard said.

The latest episode of fog began hampering the east Texas and western Louisiana ports Sunday evening. Ship pilots reported stopping traffic to the ports of Texas City and Houston at about 6 p.m. CST Sunday (0000 GMT Monday).

Before the eight vessel movements into Houston Monday, 34 ships, at least half of them tankers, had been reported waiting to enter the 53-mile (83.5 km) Houston Ship Channel, the Coast Guard said. Twenty-five were waiting to leave.

Seven ships, including four tankers, were listed as waiting to enter Beaumont and Port Arthur, the Coast Guard said. Four ships, including one tanker, were waiting to enter Lake Charles, a pilots spokeswoman said.

Only Corpus Christi, Texas, ship channel had not been stopped by fog, according to the Coast Guard Corpus Christi Marine Safety Office. (Reporting by Bruce Nichols and Erwin Seba; Editing by Christian Wiessner)