[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 74 (Thursday, April 17, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18739-18740]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-9970]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 27-97]


Foreign-Trade Zone 22, Chicago, Illinois; Proposed Foreign-Trade 
Subzone; Mobil Oil Corporation (Oil Refinery Complex), Will County, 
Illinois

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Illinois International Port District, grantee of FTZ 
22, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil refinery 
complex of Mobil Oil Corporation, located in Will County, Illinois. 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 7, 1997.
    The refinery complex (1,294 acres, 550 employees) consists of 2 
sites in

[[Page 18740]]

Will County, Illinois: Site 1 (1,200 acres)--refinery complex located 
at I-55 and Arsenal Road, on the Des Plaines River, 8 miles south of 
Joliet, some 50 miles southwest of Chicago; Site 2 (94 acres)--Mokena 
storage facility (780,000 barrel capacity) located at 183rd St and Wolf 
Road, some 25 miles southwest of Chicago. The refinery (210,000 BPD) is 
used to produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. Fuel products 
include include gasoline, jet fuel, distillates, residual fuels, 
naphthas and motor fuel blendstocks. Petrochemical feedstocks and 
refinery by-products include methane, ethane, propane, propylene, 
butane, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylene, petroleum coke, carbon 
black oil and sulfur. Some 3.6 percent of the crude oil (90 percent of 
inputs), and some 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 Customs duty rates that 
apply to certain petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products 
(duty-free) by admitting incoming foreign crude oil and natural gas 
condensate in non-privileged foreign status. 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 
June 16, 1997. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to July 1, 1997).
    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, 55 West Monroe 
Street, Suite 2440, Chicago, Illinois 60603
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: April 9, 1997.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-9970 Filed 4-16-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P