CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas -- Tropical Storm Erin caused few problems for oil and gas companies operating in the Corpus Christi, Texas, area after making landfall on Thursday, company officials said.

The impact of the storm appeared to be limited to the temporary closure of the shipping channel leading into the port of Corpus Christi, a major oil import hub.

The channel reopened Thursday morning after being shut for about eight hours as a precautionary measure, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.

Energy traders had worried the storm could affect operations at the four oil refineries in the area, which together process more than 1 million barrels per day of crude oil and other feedstocks.

Spokesmen for Valero and ConocoPhillips, which operate two of the plants that could have been affected by the storm, said there had been no impact on production.

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Several companies also have oil and gas production operations in the area. Some drilling rigs were evacuated but only one producing platform was completely shut.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said on Tuesday it was shutting down a small production facility in the Gulf of Mexico that produces 5 million cubic feet per day of gas.

Apache Energy Corp. and El Paso both reported Thursday morning that their operations were unaffected by the storm.

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