HOUSTON (Dow Jones)
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port will restart operations in the next couple days, after apparently surviving a nearly direct hit from Hurricane Gustav with minimal damage, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The port will begin onshore work first in order to make oil deliveries to refineries, but will be processing tankers within the next couple days, said Barb Hestermann, the spokeswoman.
LOOP still does not have an exact restart time, Hestermann said.
LOOP's onshore facility, near Galliano, La., manages the port, as well as pipelines and storage caverns that supply refineries in Louisiana, Texas and the Chicago area. The offshore port sits 18 miles south of Grand Isle, La., in the Gulf of Mexico, and is the only facility capable of offloading oil from the largest tanker class.
Lingering storms prevented port employees from making a full assessment of the offshore port Tuesday, Hestermann said, though a U.S. Coast Guard flyover showed no structural damage.
LOOP's schedule was light over the Labor Day weekend, and the port should be able to quickly process any tankers waiting to offload oil, Hestermann said.
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