HOUSTON, July 8 (Reuters) -

The Texas energy industry braced for Hurricane Beryl's

impact on Monday, with threats from the powerful storm forcing

the closure of key oil and gas shipping ports, slowing refining

and prompting the evacuation of some production sites.

Beryl, which made landfall near Matagorda, Texas, packing

maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour (129 kilometers an

hour), posed problems for the heart of the country's energy

sector.

Located about 85 miles south-southwest of Houston,

Texas, the storm's center was forecast to move over eastern

Texas on Monday, before passing over the Lower Mississippi

Valley into the Ohio Valley later in the week, the U.S. National

Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday.

Texas produces the most oil and natural gas, or more than

40% and 20%, respectively, of any area of the United States.

Over the weekend, the port of Corpus Christi, the country's

leading crude oil export hub, closed operations and vessel

traffic in preparation for Beryl. The ports of Houston,

Galveston, Freeport and Texas City were also shut ahead of the

storm making landfall.

Chemical company Chemours Co ( CC ) said on Sunday that it

was prepared to adjust staffing and secure equipment during and

after the storm passed, while Freeport LNG said it had its

hurricane preparedness plan in place.

Enbridge Inc ( ENB ), which runs crude oil export

facilities near Corpus Christi, also said it had activated

emergency plans for assets along or near the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Citgo Petroleum Corp, meanwhile, was reducing production

over the weekend at its 165,000 barrel-per-day Corpus Christi,

Texas, refinery, sources said.

Producers, including Shell and Chevron ( CVX ),

also shut in production or evacuated personnel from their Gulf

of Mexico offshore platforms.

More than 26,000 homes and businesses were without power in

Texas as of Sunday evening, according to PowerOutage.us.

Texas-based electric utility CenterPoint said in an email

that it was "closely monitoring the situation and making

preparations."

The storm is forecast to turn north-eastward and move

farther inland over eastern Texas and Arkansas late Monday and

Tuesday.