[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 224 (Monday, November 22, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63786-63787]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-30384]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 55-99]


Foreign-Trade Zone 116--Port Arthur, TX; Expansion of 
Manufacturing Authority--Subzone 116B, Fina Oil and Chemical Company, 
Jefferson County, TX

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Foreign-Trade Zone of Southeast Texas, Inc., grantee 
of FTZ 116, requesting authority on behalf of the Fina Oil and Chemical 
Company (Fina), to expand the scope of manufacturing activity conducted 
under zone procedures within Subzone 116B at the Fina oil refinery 
complex in Jefferson County, Texas. 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 November 8, 1999.
    Subzone 116B was approved by the Board in 1995 and consists of four 
sites with 450 employees in Jefferson County, Texas: Site 1 (1,244 
acres)--main refinery complex located along the Neches River at State 
Farm to Market Highway 366 & 32nd Street, Port Arthur Jefferson 
County); Site 2 (19 acres)--West Port Arthur Tank Farm (564,000 barrel 
capacity), owned by American Petrofina Pipe Line Company (subsidiary of 
Fina, Inc.), located at Roosevelt and 53rd Streets, Port Arthur; Site 3 
(194 acres)--refinery expansion site, located adjacent to the refinery 
at State Farm to Market Hwy 366, Port

[[Page 63787]]

Arthur; Site 4--Sun Marine Terminal-Nederland tank storage facility, 
leased storage (1,278,500 barrel capacity), along the Neches River in 
Nederland, Texas. Authority was granted for the manufacture of fuel 
products and certain petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products 
(Board Order 772, 60 FR 49564, 9/26/95).
    The refinery (180,000 barrels per day; 450 employees) is used to 
produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. The expansion request 
involves a new petrochemical unit. Fina, in a limited partnership with 
BASF Corporation will construct a single-train naphtha cracker facility 
on 51 acres of Site 1. The new facilities (with 150 additional 
employees) will produce ethylene (1.9 billion lbs./year), propylene 
(1.2 billion lbs./year), as well as butadiene, styrene, benzene, 
toluene and xylene (HTS 2901, duty free). In addition, the expansion 
will increase storage capacity by 1.5 million barrels, and increase the 
overall crude and condensate capacity of the refinery to 240,000 BPD. 
New feedstocks for use in the expanded facilities will include natural 
gas condensate, and virgin gas oil (HTS 2710.00.45, 2710.00.05, and 
2710.00.10, duty rate ranges from 5.25 cents/barrel to 10.5 cents/
barrel). Approximately 75 percent of the crude oil and 85 percent of 
the condensates will be sourced from abroad.
    Zone procedures would exempt the new refinery facility 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 for 
certain petrochemical feedstocks (duty-free) by admitting foreign crude 
oil and natural gas condensate in non-privileged foreign status. The 
application indicates that the additional 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 appointed examiner to investigate the application and 
report to the Board.
    Public comment on the application 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 January 21, 2000. Rebuttal comments in response to 
material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during 
the subsequent 15-day period February 7, 2000.
    A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be 
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, 500 Dallas, 
Suite 1160, Houston, TX 77002
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 
4008, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: November 9, 1999.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Acting Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-30384 Filed 11-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P