[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 135 (Thursday, July 13, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43289-43290]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-17763]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 33-2000]


Foreign-Trade Zone 7--Mayaguez, Puerto Rico: Application for 
Subzone, Caribbean Petroleum Corporation/Caribbean Petroleum Refining, 
Inc. (Oil Refinery Complex), Bayamon, Puerto Rico

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company, grantee 
of FTZ 7, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil 
refinery complex of Caribbean Petroleum Corporation/Caribbean Petroleum 
Refining, Inc. (CPC/CPR), located in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. 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 6, 2000.
    The refinery complex (48,000 BPD capacity, 77 storage tanks with 
over 2

[[Page 43290]]

million barrels of capacity) is located on State Road 28, Km. 2, 
Bayamon, Puerto Rico. The refinery (173.81 acres, 155 employees) is 
used to produce fuels and petrochemical products, including gasoline, 
jet fuel, distillates, residual fuels, naphthas, motor fuel 
blendstocks, liquid petroleum gases, butane, kerosene, and propane. 
Refinery by-products include petroleum coke, asphalt and sulfur. All of 
the crude oil (85 percent of inputs), and some naphthas, and gas oils 
are sourced from abroad.
    Zone procedures would exempt the refinery from Customs duty 
payments of 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 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 
September 11, 2000. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period to September 26, 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, 525 F.D. 
Roosevelt Ave., Suite 905, La Torre de Plaxa, San Juan, PR 00918
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: July 6, 2000.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-17763 Filed 7-12-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M