By Arathy Somasekhar, Curtis Williams and Liz Hampton

HOUSTON/FREEPORT, July 11 (Reuters) -

About 1.3 million homes and businesses in Texas remained

without power on Thursday, four days after Hurricane Beryl

lashed the state with fierce winds and flooding, sparking

frustration among companies, officials and residents who were

facing extreme heat.

Around 1.1 million of those without power were customers of

CenterPoint Energy ( CNP ), the state's largest provider.

Another 1.17 million customers have been restored since Beryl's

landfall near Matagorda, Texas, the company said.

The slow restoration of power continues hindering some

companies' efforts to quickly return operations to normal,

especially around Freeport, among Texas' largest energy hubs.

However, most oil and gas companies have resumed normal

operations after Beryl made landfall as a Category-1 storm.

Freeport LNG, the U.S. third largest liquefied natural gas

(LNG) producer, has not restarted gas processing operations

after making initial preparations on Wednesday, according to

sources.

No vessels were docked at the LNG company's berths, but

many power restoration crews were working in the area, according

to a Reuters witness.

The company has not provided an operational update since

Sunday, when it said it ramped down production at its

liquefaction facility and intended to resume operations once it

was safe to do so.

"The major concern of the week over the impact of

Hurricane Beryl on U.S. LNG production has receded," said

consultancy Rystad's vice president, Wei Xiong, in a note to

clients.

"U.S. liquefaction plants and LNG production were

largely unaffected, with only Freeport LNG cutting production

over the weekend," he added, noting that feedgas to the facility

almost vanished to only 8.7 million cubic feet per day on Jul. 7

from nearly 2 billion cufic feet per day on Jul. 6.

The port of Freeport reopened on Monday morning under

vessel draft restrictions. It moved its first ship and said a

survey would determine when the channel would be cleared for

full operations.

Chemical maker Olin declared a force majeure for

some product and aromatic shipments after Beryl caused damage to

its Freeport facilities.

The Texas Gulf Coast is home to massive oil and gas

processing facilities, as well as export plants and chemical

manufacturers. Texas accounts for 40% of U.S. oil output and 20%

of the country's natural gas production.

Refineries, offshore production sites and ports saw

limited damage and had largely returned to normal operations by

Thursday.

BACKLASH

CenterPoint has been facing scrutiny over its preparations

ahead of Beryl and speed of reaction. In a letter to

CenterPoint, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia called the slow

restoration of power a public health crisis.

The utility said on Wednesday it expected to restore power

to an additional 400,000 customers by Friday and 350,000

customers by Sunday. In total, 2.26 million of its customers

lost power in the storm.

"Crews have identified extensive tree damage across the

company's system. Trees across the Greater Houston area were

particularly vulnerable due to three unusual years of weather,

including significant freezes, drought and heavy rain this past

spring," CenterPoint said in a release.

Temperatures in southeast Texas were expected to be in the

low to mid-90 degrees Fahrenheit (low to mid-32 degrees Celsius)

on Thursday, with heat indices in the 100s, the National Weather

Service said on Thursday.

Damage from Beryl could cost insurers in the United States

roughly $2.7 million, catastrophe modeling company Karen Clark &

Co said on Thursday.