A small section of the Houston Ship Channel was closed after 15,000 gallons of animal fat spilled from a shore-based storage tank into the waterway but there was no impact on traffic, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The spill on the conduit to the busiest U.S petrochemical port is not likely to have any impact on operations in Houston and Texas City refineries.

"Most of the ship channel is open, the part closed is a very small portion at the very end of the channel, so no economic impact at all," a U.S. Coast Guard. Roughly three quarters of a mile of the channel was closed from City Dock 16 up to the Buffalo Bayou Railroad Bridge - the most northern portion of the Houston Ship Channel, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The spill is being cleaned up but there is no definite timeline for re-opening the affected section of the channel, Coast Guard officials said.

The owner of the damaged tank, Jacob Sterns and Sons, is working with the Coast Guard and Texas General Land Office. (Reuters)