[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 244 (Wednesday, December 21, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-31359]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: December 21, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket 40-94]

 

Foreign-Trade Zone 116, Freeport, TX; Proposed Foreign-Trade 
Subzone, Fina Oil & Chemical Company (Oil Refinery), Jefferson County, 
TX (Port Arthur Area)

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Foreign-Trade Zone of Southeast Texas, Inc., grantee 
of FTZ 116, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil 
refinery of Fina Oil & Chemical Company (subsidiary of Fina, Inc., 
affiliate of Petrofina, SA (Belgium)), located in Jefferson County, 
Texas (Port Arthur area). The application was submitted pursuant to the 
provisions of the Foreign-Trade Zones Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-
81u), and the regulations of the Board (15 CFR part 400). It was 
formally filed on December 13, 1994.
    The refinery complex (1,457 acres) consists of 4 sites located in 
Port Arthur and Jefferson County, Texas: Site 1 (1,244 acres)--main 
refinery complex located along the Neches River at State Farm to Market 
Highway 366 and 32nd St., Port Arthur; Site 2 (19 acres)--West Port 
Arthur Tank Farm (564,000-barrel capacity), owned by American Petrofina 
Pipe Line Company (subsidiary of Fina, Inc.), located at Roosevelt and 
53rd Streets, Port Arthur; Site 3 (194 acres)--refinery expansion site, 
located adjacent to the refinery at State Farm to Market Hwy 366, Port 
Arthur; Site 4--Sun Marine Terminal-Nederland tank storage facility, 
leased storage (1,278,500-barrel capacity), along the Neches River in 
Nederland, Texas.
    The refinery (150,000 barrels per day; 470 employees) is used to 
produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. Fuels produced include 
gasoline, jet fuel, gas oil, diesel fuel, fuel oil, residual fuels and 
naphthas. Petrochemical feedstocks include methane, ethane, butane, 
benzene, toluene, xylene, propane and propylene. Refinery by-products 
include sulfur, petroleum coke and asphalt. Approximately 77 percent of 
crude oil (88 percent of inputs), and some feedstocks and motor fuel 
blendstocks are sourced abroad.
    Zone procedures would exempt the refinery from Customs duty 
payments on the foreign products used in its exports. On domestic 
sales, the company is seeking to avoid duties on fuel used in the 
refinery and to choose the finished product duty rate on certain 
petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products (duty-free). The duty 
on crude oil ranges from 5.25 cents to 10.5 cents/barrel. The 
application indicates that the savings from zone procedures would help 
improve the refinery's international competitiveness.
    In accordance with the Board's regulations (as revised, 56 FR 
50790-50808, 10-8-91), a member of the FTZ Staff has been designated 
examiner to investigate the application and report to the Board.
    Public comment is invited from interested parties. Submissions 
(original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the Board's Executive 
Secretary at the address below. The closing period for their receipt is 
February 21, 1995. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to March 6, 1995.).
    Copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available 
for public inspection at each of the following locations:

Office of the District Director, U.S. Customs Service, 4550 75th St., 
Port Arthur, TX 77642
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: December 13, 1994.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 94-31359 Filed 12-20-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P