NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket No. 17-91]
Foreign-Trade Zone 116--Port
Arthur, TX; Application for Subzone, Star
Enterprise-Refinery and Terminals, Jefferson and Hardin Counties, Texas
Thursday, April 4, 1991
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 special-purpose subzone status for the oil refinery complex
and related storage facilities of Star Enterprise (a joint venture involving
Texaco Refining and Marketing (East), Inc., and Saudi Refining,Inc.)
located in Jefferson and Hardin Counties (Port Arthur area), 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 March 21, 1991.
Subzone status is being proposed for the following Port Arthur area
facilities, totalling 3,758 acres: Site 1 (3,036 acres)--Port Arthur
refinery complex (250,000 barrels per day), Jefferson County, adjacent to
the City of Port Arthur; Site 2 (402 acres)--crude storage and asphalt
production facility, Jefferson County, adjacent to the City of Port Neches;
Site 3 (126 acres)--terminal and docking facility, Jefferson County, 2
miles south of Port Arthur; Site 4 (34 acres)--LPG underground storage
facility, Hardin County, 1 mile northwest of the City of Sour Lake; Site 5
(63 acres)--Seventh St. storage facility, Jefferson County, south of Port
Arthur; and, Site 6 (97 acres)--National Station storage facility,
Jefferson County, adjacent to Site 1.
The refinery facilities employ 1,450 persons and is used to produce
gasoline, fuel oil, jet fuels, middle distillates, lube oil, and asphalts.
Approximately 80 percent of the refinery inputs are sourced abroad,
including crude oil, secondary feedstocks, catfeeds and naptha. The Port
Arthur area terminals and storage facilities operate as an integral part of
the refinery.
Zone procedures would exempt the refinery from Customs duty payments on the
foreign products used in its exports. On domestic sales, the company is
seeking to avoid duties on fuel used in the refinery and to defer duties
until products leave the refinery. The application also indicates the
company plans to choose the zero duty rate that applies to certain end
products, such as petroleum coke, sulfur, and MEP (a
methane/ethane/propane/hydrogen mix). (The duty on crude oil ranges from
5.25 to 10.5 cents/barrel.) Foreign merchandise would also be exampt from
state and local ad valorem taxes. The application indicates that the
savings would help improve the refinery's international competitiveness.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has been
appointed to investigate the application and report to the Board. The
committee consists of: John J. Da Ponte, Jr. (Chairman), Director,
Foreign-Trade Zones Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC
20230; Paul Rimmer, Regional Director, Inspection and Control, U.S. Customs
Service, Southwest Region, suite 500, San Felipe Street, Houston, TX
77057-3012; and Colonel Brink P. Miller, District Engineer, U.S. Army
Engineer District Galveston, P.O. Box 1229, Galveston, TX 77553.
Comments concerning the proposed zone are invited in writing from
interested parties. They should be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before May 13, 1991.
A copy of the appliclation is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
Office of the District Director,
U.S. Customs Service,
4550 75th St.,
Port Arthur, TX 77642,
Attn.: Patricia McCauley
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., room 4213,
Washington, DC 20230
Dated: March 28, 1991.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 91-7898 Filed 4-3-91; 8:45 am]