[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 79 (Tuesday, April 23, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17874-17875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-9983]



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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 26-96]


Foreign-Trade Zone 161--Sedgwick County, KS, Application for 
Subzone Status; Texaco Inc., (Oil Refinery Complex) Butler County, KS

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Board of Commissioners of Sedgwick County, Kansas, 
grantee of FTZ 161, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the 
oil refinery complex of Texaco Inc., located in Butler County, Kansas. 
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 
April 2, 1996.
    The refinery complex (578 acres, 517 employees) consists of 2 sites 
and connecting pipelines in Butler County, 35 east of Wichita, Kansas: 
Site 1 (460 acres)--main refinery complex (110,000 BPD) located at 1401 
Douglas Road, just south of El Dorado; Site 2 (118 acres)--crude oil 
storage facility (1.2 mil. barrel capacity) located at 3913 SW 10th 
Street, 3 miles west of the refinery.
    The refinery complex is used to produce fuels and petrochemical 
feedstocks. Fuels produced include gasoline, jet fuel, distillates, 
diesel, and residual fuels. Petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-
products include methane, ethane, propane, butane, butylene, toluene, 
propylene, cumene, sulfur, carbon black and petroleum coke. About 46 
percent of the crude oil (90 percent of inputs), and some feedstocks 
and motor fuel blendstocks used in producing fuel products are sourced 
abroad.
    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) instead of the duty 
rates that would otherwise apply to the foreign-sourced inputs (e.g., 
crude oil). The duty rates on crude oil range from 5.25 cents/barrel 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, 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 
June 24, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to July 8, 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, 151 N. Volutsia, Wichita, 
Kansas 67214
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce,

[[Page 17875]]

14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230.

    Dated: April 9, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-9983 Filed 4-22-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P