By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON, July 7 (Reuters) - Ports along the Texas coast

started to close or restrict vessel traffic on Sunday to prepare

for Tropical Storm Beryl, which was expected to strengthen back

to a Category 1 hurricane before hitting the area late in the

evening.

The storm, which at one point intensified to a Category 5

hurricane, left a deadly trail of destruction across the

Caribbean. It swept through Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and

the Grenadines, in addition to unleashing heavy rainfall on

northern Venezuela.

The port of Corpus Christi said it was closed after

condition "Zulu" was set by the Coast Guard captain on Sunday.

All vessel movement and cargo operations are restricted as gale

force winds were expected within 12 hours.

Corpus Christi, about 200 miles (322 km) from Houston, is

the top crude oil export hub in the United States. Port closures

could bring a temporary halt to crude oil exports, shipments of

crude oil to refineries, and motor fuels from those plants.

Meanwhile the ports of Houston, Galveston, Freeport and

Texas City were under condition "Yankee". With gale force winds

were predicted within 24 hours, all inbound vessel traffic was

suspended at these ports.

Chemical maker Chemours, which has a production facility

near Corpus Christi, said on Sunday it has integrated hurricane

preparedness plans, including training and drills, in place to

ensure its sites remain safe.

"We continue to closely monitor Beryl's track and have

escalated our hurricane preparedness plans to include planning

for safe and adequate staffing during and after the storm and

securing our equipment and assets, should the storm make

landfall near our site," the company said in a e-mailed

statement.

Freeport LNG said it intended to maintain normal

operations at its liquefaction facility, adding it will initiate

weather emergency response plan if necessary.

Enbridge and Gibson Energy, which operate large crude

oil export facilities near Corpus Christi, did not immediately

reply to requests for comments on Sunday. They had said they

were operational on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Citgo Petroleum Corp was

cutting production

at its 165,000 barrel-per-day Corpus Christi, Texas,

refinery on Saturday, sources said.

Citgo plans to keep the refinery in operation at minimum

production during passage of Beryl to the east of Corpus Christi

on Sunday, the sources added.

Some oil producers, including

Shell and Chevron ( CVX ), had also evacuated

personnel from their Gulf of Mexico offshore production

platforms ahead of the storm.