UPDATE 1-Mexico reopens one of two shut Gulf oil ports

Fri Nov 6, 2009 5:34pm EST
 
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(Recasts with Dos Bocas port reopening)

MEXICO CITY, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Mexico's Coatzacoalcos oil terminal, which has been out of operation for much of the week due to bad weather, remained shut on Friday although the nearby Dos Bocas port reopened in the afternoon, the government said.

Coatzacoalcos and nearby Dos Bocas -- which handle close to 22 percent of Mexico's oil exports -- were hit by waves as high as 12 feet (3.65 meters) on Friday, making tanker loading operations unsafe.

Mexico's main crude oil export terminal Cayo Arcas, also on the Gulf Coast, was operating normally.

Prolonged port closures can cause logistical problems for state oil monopoly Pemex [PEMEX.UL], which has little storage capacity. In the past the company has been forced to temporarily curtail oil production because of drawn out shutdowns.

U.S. oil producers and refiners said operations were normal in and around the Gulf of Mexico early on Friday as they monitored weather systems that could threaten offshore platforms and coastal facilities in the next several days. [ID:nN06188957]

Companies were faced with tropical depression Ida over Honduras and Nicaragua and rough weather in the southwestern Gulf, which could threaten Gulf oil operations, energy traders and weather forecasters said. (Reporting by Cyntia Barrera Diaz and Robert Campbell; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

 

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