UPDATE1-Shell shuts GOM oil pipeline near Transocean fire

(Adds details, background, comments from spokeswoman, paragraphs 3-6)

NEW YORK, April 22 (Reuters) - Shell Oil Co (RDSa.L) said Thursday it temporarily shut down a 75,000 barrel-per-day crude oil pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico as a precautionary measure due to its proximity to the Transocean rig fire.

The pipeline known as Nakika supplies the larger Delta pipeline system and Motiva's Norco, Louisiana, refinery.

The pipeline was closed because it is located about a mile away from the now-submerged Transocean Horizon rig, which suffered an explosion on Tuesday.

The incident at the Transocean rig also forced the temporary shut-in of oil production at a Shell-operated Nakika platform nearby, a Shell spokeswoman said.

She said Shell does not expect the pipeline to be shut for long and the outage would have no material impact on the Norco refinery's operations.

By late Thursday, Transocean said that its affected Horizon rig was underwater and the fire at the rig was extinguished. That should make it safe for Shell to restart operations on the Nakika platform and pipeline in short order, the spokeswoman said. (Reporting by Joshua Schneyer and Rebekah Kebede; Editing by David Gregorio)