By Arathy Somasekhar, Marianna Parraga and Curtis Williams

HOUSTON, July 10 (Reuters) - About 1.65 million

customers remained without power in Texas on Wednesday, two days

after Hurricane Beryl made landfall, as progress to restore

electricity was slow the night before, hampering efforts to

quickly restart critical oil infrastructure.

The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday

near the coastal town of Matagorda, about 100 miles (160

kilometers) from Houston, lashing Texas with heavy winds that

knocked down power lines and damaged property.

Reinsurance broker Gallagher Re estimated that U.S. economic

losses from Beryl would be at least $1 billion as damage

assessments continue. Weather forecasting firm AccuWeather

issued a preliminary estimate of $28 billion to $32 billion in

U.S. damage and economic loss.

About 1.35 million of the 1.65 million people without power

are customers of CenterPoint Energy ( CNP ), the state's largest

provider.

CenterPoint said on Wednesday it had restored power to some

600,000 customers in the previous 24 hours, adding that it

remains confident it will restore 1 million customers by the end

of the day.

Freeport LNG, the second-largest U.S. liquefied natural gas

terminal, was preparing to resume processing by Thursday, two

sources close to the matter said, as power was being restored.

But LNG exports from the terminal are not expected to restart

until the port, which is operating under restrictions, fully

reopens for vessel traffic.

A spokesperson for Freeport LNG told Reuters the company

"intends to resume liquefaction when post-storm assessments are

complete and it is safe to do so."

Ports along the Texas Gulf Coast, which had shut ahead of

the hurricane, continued reopening on Wednesday, some with

restrictions.

The Port of Freeport said it was open and operating, while a

shipping agency said certain traffic restrictions remained in

place. The port moved its first ship on Wednesday, with four

more planned through the day, shipping agents added.

Port facilities were running on backup power as utility

crews worked to restore electricity, the port officials said on

Tuesday.

The Port of Houston said its eight public terminals had

resumed operations on Tuesday for vessel operations, and on

Wednesday morning returned to normal start times for gate

operations.

Houston Pilots, which provides services to ships entering or

departing the port, moved 14 ships inbound on Tuesday and was

expecting 25 inbound and five outbound vessels on Wednesday.

At the Port of Galveston, cruise ships began to sail while

cargo operations were expected to resume on Wednesday. The port

experienced relatively minor damage and some power outages, said

Rodger Rees, Galveston Wharves port director.

Refineries and offshore production sites saw limited damage

and largely returned to normal operations.

Some customers have questioned whether CenterPoint had

enough crews in place ahead of the storm. Texas Lieutenant

Governor Dan Patrick said an analysis would be conducted after

power is restored.

CenterPoint said its crews were positioned where they would

be safe when the storm hit and were deployed on Monday, when the

landfall site was known, as soon as it was safe to do so.

With local stores running out of power generators for sale,

many Texans resorted to their trucks to power appliances and

small equipment at home.

Following power outages from Beryl, a Ford Motor

spokesman said the automaker saw a 1300% increase from customers

in the Houston region generating at least 1 kilowatt of power

with their built-in F-150 pickup truck mobile generators, with

people doing so numbering in the hundreds on July 8.