Aug. 5--Oil and gas companies and chemical makers in the region had no reports of damage from Tropical Storm Edouard this morning, and some began making plans to return to normal operations.

But several companies were still watching the storm closely before giving the all clear.

Marathon Oil Corp., for instance, said it will keep its 72,000 barrel per day refinery in Texas City closed until it appears the facility is out of harm's way, said Angela Graves, spokeswoman for the Houston firm.

Dow Chemical Co., the Midland, Mich.-based chemical giant, also had not reopened plants in La Porte and Clear Lake, but could make that call later in the day, depending on the storm, company spokeswoman Gina Foster-Gibbs said.

Valero Energy Corp. refineries in Port Arthur, Texas City and Houston continued to run at slightly reduced rates, with port closures tightening crude supplies in Texas City, the company said in an e-mail to reporters this morning.

The Port Arthur refinery experienced minor power disruptions, the company reported, but did not anticipate production to be "materially affected at any of our refineries."

The Motiva Enterprises Port Arthur Refinery also had temporary power problems ias the storm made landfall this morning but was largely unaffected and continues to operate, Shell said in a statement. Units that lost power are in the process of being brought back on line. Motiva is a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Arabia's state oil company.

Chemical producer Huntsman Corp. experienced minor disruptions at its Port Nueces plant near Corpus Christi due to power failures and high winds, said Russ Stolle, spokesman for the Salt Lake City-based firm with administrative headquarters in The Woodlands. But operations at the plant were either back up or coming back online late this morning, he said. Company plants in Conroe and Dayton did not appear to have any storm-related issues so far, he said.

Sharon H. Rogers, spokeswoman for German chemical giant BASF, said the storm had a minimal effect on company plants in Beaumont and Port Arthur and did not affect facilities in Freeport, Clear Lake, and Pasadena. She said non-essential personnel did not report to work this morning, but that the company plans to resume normal work schedules later today and Wednesday.

Elsewhere, oil companies with oil and natural gas production facilities and in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, as well as offshore drillers, indicated the worst had passed.

BP, in a recorded message, said it was returning its offshore operations to normal.

Shell Oil said the storm had no impact on its platforms and will begin today returning the few workers it evacuated, weather permitting.

And offshore driller Noble Corp. said workers that were evacuated Monday from two submersible rigs in the Gulf may return by midday Wednesday.