[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 145 (Friday, July 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 39119]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-19063]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 58-96]


Foreign-Trade Zone 86, Tacoma, Washington, Proposed Foreign-Trade 
Subzone; Texaco, Inc. (Oil Refinery Complex), Skagit County, Washington

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Port of Tacoma (Washington), grantee of FTZ 86, 
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil refinery complex 
of Texaco Refining and Marketing, Inc. (wholly-owned subsidiary of 
Texaco, Inc.), located in Skagit County (Anacortes area), Washington. 
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 
July 17, 1996.
    The refinery complex (143,000 BPD, 400 employees), including a 
pipeline corridor and marine terminal, is located on a 640-acre site at 
600 South Texas Road, Skagit County, Washington, on the Puget Sound, 
some 2 miles east of Anacortes (60 miles north of Seattle).
    The refinery is used to produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. 
Fuels produced include gasoline, jet fuel, distillates, residual fuels 
and naphthas. Petrochemicals and refinery by-products include methane, 
ethane, propane, propylene, ethylene, benzene, toluene, xylene, butane, 
petroleum coke, asphalt and sulfur. Some 19 percent of the crude oil 
(97 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 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, natural gas condensate). The duty rates on inputs 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 
September 24, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to October 9, 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 Export Assistance Center, 2001 6th Ave., 
Suite 650, Seattle, Washington 98121
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: July 18, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-19063 Filed 7-25-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P