LOOP hopes to resume crude deliveries Thursday

NEW YORK, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port said on Wednesday it hopes to resume crude oil deliveries to coastal refineries by Thursday using onshore storage, and added that marine operations offshore could resume by the weekend.

"We found no visible damage offshore, but we need to get out there and we're working on that now," a spokeswoman said.

LOOP, the nation's only deepwater offshore oil port and a key conduit for foreign oil shipments, halted operations ahead of Hurricane Gustav.

(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by David Gregorio)