[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 18 (Friday, January 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2486-2487]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-1307]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket 4-96]


Foreign-Trade Zone 124, Gramercy, Louisiana; Proposed Foreign-
Trade Subzone--Shell Oil Company (Oil Refinery/Petrochemical Complex); 
St. Charles Parish, Louisiana

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the South Louisiana Port Commission, grantee of FTZ 124, 
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil refinery and 
petrochemical complex of Shell Oil Company, located in St. Charles 
Parish, Louisiana. The application was submitted pursuant to the 
provisions of 

[[Page 2487]]
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 
January 18, 1996.
    The refinery/petrochemical complex (983 acres) 1600 employees) 
consists of 4 sites in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana: Site 1 (220,000 
BPD capacity, 826 acres)--main refinery complex located on the 
Mississippi River at 15536 River Road and Louisiana Hwy 48, near Norco, 
including some 40 miles of connecting pipeline ending at the Clovelly 
Dome Storage Terminal and a dedicated pipeline from the adjacent GATX 
Tank Terminal; Site 2 (142 acres)--chemical plant located adjacent to 
the main refinery at 16122 River Road; Site 3 (45,000 BPD capacity, 15 
acres)--refinery, located at 11842 River Road, 6 miles east of the main 
complex, near St. Rose; and Site 4 (13 leased tanks with 1,713,000 
barrel capacity)--storage facility within International MATEX Tank 
Terminals (IMTT), located adjacent to Site 3. The refineries, 
petrochemical plant, storage facility and pipelines operate as an 
integral part of the refinery/petrochemical complex.
    The refinery is used to produce fuels, petrochemical feedstocks and 
petrochemical products. Fuels produced include gasoline, jet fuel, 
distillates, residual fuels, and naphthas. Petrochemical feedstocks 
include methane, ethane, propane, butane, butylene, ethylene, propylene 
and butadiene. Refinery by-products include sulfur and petroleum coke. 
The refinery complex also produces petrochemical products including 
epoxy resins, epichlorohydrin, methyl ethyl ketone, allyl chloride, 
secondary butyl alcohol and MTBE. About one-quarter of the crude oil 
(87 percent of inputs), and some feedstocks and motor fuel blendstocks 
used in producing fuel products are sourced abroad. In addition, some 
feedstocks used in chemical manufacturing may be sourced abroad 
including sulphuric acid and methyl mercaptan.
    Zone procedures would exempt the operations involved from Customs 
duty payments on the foreign products used in its exports. On domestic 
sales, the company would be able to choose the finished product duty 
rate (nonprivileged foreign status--NPF) on certain petrochemical 
feedstocks and refinery by-products (duty-free). The duty on crude oil 
ranges from duty-free to 10.5/barrel. (The remaining finished 
products--fuel and petrochemical products--generally have higher duty 
rates than crude oil, and for those products zone procedures would be 
primarily used to defer Customs duty payments.) The application 
indicates that the savings from zone procedures would help improve the 
refinery's international competitiveness of the plants involved.
    In accordance with the Board's regulations, 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 
March 26, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to April 10, 1996).
    A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be 
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce District Office, #1 Allen Center, Suite 
1160, 500 Dallas, Houston, Texas 77002
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: January 19, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-1307 Filed 1-25-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P