(Adds background on refineries)

HOUSTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department will send 309,000 barrels of crude oil from the nation's emergency stockpile to two refineries that are running short of supply due to hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the department said on Sunday.

ConocoPhillips <COP.N> will get 200,000 barrels for its Wood River refinery in Illinois, delivered through the Capline pipeline, the department said.

Placid Oil's Port Allen refinery in Louisiana will get 109,000 barrels through a Shell pipeline, it said.

Deliveries to both refineries begin later on Sunday.

About 25 percent of U.S. crude oil production is shut down after back-to-back hurricanes churned through the Gulf of Mexico this month, triggering the biggest disruption to nationwide energy supplies in at least three years. (Reporting by Chris Baltimore; Editing by Bill Trott)

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