Texas refineries slowly power back up

GALVESTON, Texas, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Texas Gulf Coast oil refineries closed by Hurricane Ike have begun sputtering back to life, company officials said.

The area includes the two largest oil refineries in the country, the Houston Chronicle reported Friday.

Exxon Mobile's Baytown refinery, the largest, has begun steps to restore production, a process that takes a week or more, the Chronicle reported. The second largest, BP's Texas City refinery -- with a 460,000-gallon-a-day capacity -- has also regained power at its processing units, the newspaper said.

Fourteen refineries lost power due to the storm. At least six have begun the start-up process, the newspaper said.