* Arthur could bring five to 10 inches of rain through early

Friday, the NHC said

* The storm was about 40 miles east-northeast of Port

O'Connor with 40 mph winds

* A tropical storm warning spans High Island, Texas to

Morgan City, Louisiana

(Updates with additional information on storm from third

paragraph.)

By Anjana Anil, Ashitha Shivaprasad and Sheila Dang

HOUSTON, June 17 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Arthur formed

near the Texas coast and is expected to bring life-threatening

flooding across portions of the Southeastern U.S., the U.S.

National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday.

The storm - the first named system of the 2026 Atlantic

hurricane season - was located about 40 miles (60 km)

east-northeast of Port O'Connor, Texas, on Wednesday morning,

producing maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour (65

km/h).

A tropical storm warning is in effect from High Island, Texas,

to Morgan City, Louisiana, an important energy corridor that

includes major refineries and liquefied natural gas processing

facilities around Port Arthur and Lake Charles.

Tony Dupont, COO at Earth Science Associates, said that a model

based on past storms is forecasting that around 10,000 barrels

of oil could be lost because of shut-ins at offshore platforms

in the path of the storm.

"Part of the past losses occur due to an abundance of

caution for personnel and other dangers, and that is part of the

data in the model, though for the current storm we haven't seen

those actions, so it is likely to be on the low side of the

forecast," he said in an emailed response to questions.

The Gulf Coast refining region that runs from Corpus Christi to

Pascagoula, Mississippi, holds around half of total U.S.

refining capacity of 18.4 million barrels per day (bpd). The

largest U.S. refinery is ⁠the Saudi Aramco-owned ​Motiva

Enterprises' Port Arthur, Texas, plant, which has throughput of

730,000 barrels per day, according to the company.

​Other major Gulf Coast refineries in the potential path of the

storm include Exxon Mobil's ( XOM ) facility in Beaumont, Texas.

LNG giants including Cheniere and Venture Global ( VG )

also have major liquefaction facilities along the coastal

​region.

Exxon Mobil ( XOM ), Motiva Enterprises, Cheniere and Venture Global ( VG ) did

not immediately respond to requests for comment about storm

preparations.

Arthur is expected to produce rainfall totals of five to 10

inches. Isolated higher totals near 20 inches are expected

through early Friday from the Mid and Upper Texas coast

east-northeast into southern and central portions of Louisiana,

Mississippi, and Alabama, along with western portions of Georgia

and the Florida Panhandle, the Miami-based NHC said.

"Very heavy rainfall is expected to fall across southeast

Louisiana into southern Mississippi, where there can be

significant and even life-threatening flooding, before spreading

northeastward through the Carolinas and Georgia," said

AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva.

Significant rain is expected to last through Friday across the

Southeast, and the zone of greatest risk will shift from far

eastern Texas and Louisiana to Georgia by Friday, according to

AccuWeather.