Houston Ship Channel was closed for an hour after the 2003-built vessel, owned by Jo Tankers AS, reported smoke in its engine room.
After the fire-damaged tanker, which was blocking the traffic in the waterway, was moved to a berth, the traffic resumed at around 4 pm local time.
Reuters said that no injuries were reported in the incident.
According to AIS data provided by MarineTraffic, the 145-meter-long tanker was moored in Houston on December 6.
At the time of the incident the vessel was on its way to Houston's Vopak terminal, VesselsValue data shows.