[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 120 (Monday, June 23, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33828-33829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-16276]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 49-97]


Foreign-Trade Zone 3, San Francisco, CA; Application for Foreign-
Trade Subzone Status; Chevron U.S.A. Inc.; (Oil Refinery Complex); 
Richmond, CA

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the San Francisco Port Commission, grantee of FTZ 3, 
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil refinery complex 
of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., located in Richmond, California. 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 June 12, 1997.
    The refinery complex (240,000 BPD, 1,460 employees) is located on a 
2,900-acre site at 841 Chevron Way, in Richmond (Contra Costa County), 
California, some 25 miles northeast of San Francisco. The refinery is 
used to produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. Fuel products 
include gasoline, jet fuel, distillates, naphthas and motor fuel 
blendstocks. Petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products include 
methane, ethane, propane, propylene, butane, petroleum coke, sulfur and 
carbon black oil. Some 11 percent of the crude oil (92 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

[[Page 33829]]

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 
August 22, 1997. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to September 8, 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, 250 Montgomery 
Street, 14th Floor, San Francisco, California 94104
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: June 12, 1997.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Acting Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-16276 Filed 6-20-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P