(Reuters) - The United States Coast Guard said on Friday it reopened the Mississippi River near New Orleans after it was closed due to an oil spill on Thursday.
The Coast Guard had shut a 10-mile (16.1 km) stretch of the Mississippi River in downtown New Orleans after a vessel spilled oil into the river.
The closing stalled 12 commercial vessels on the river. New Orleans, which sits near the mouth of the Mississippi, is an important transit point for energy, metals and agriculture commodities moving to overseas and domestic markets.
(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)
