NEW YORK, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Motiva Enterprises LLC said on Friday it has begun to reduce rates at itsNorco, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, plants after TropicalStorm Karen delayed shipments of oil.
Motiva, a 50-50 joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco, operates a 233,500barrels-per-day refinery in Norco. Shell also operates a heavyOlefin feed refinery at the Mobile location.
The tropical storm weakened on Friday afternoon but couldstill strengthen before it makes landfall on the U.S. GulfCoast.
Nearly half of the oil output in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico wascut by Friday afternoon because of the storm even after theNational Hurricane Center discontinued its Hurricane Watch whenKaren became disorganized.
(Reporting by Selam Gebrekidan; editing by Matthew Lewis)