NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 8-91]
Foreign-Trade Zone 122--Corpus
Christi, TX, Application for Subzone, Koch
Refining Company Refinery and Pipeline, Corpus Christi/Fort Worth, TX, Area
Monday, February 25, 1991
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, grantee of FTZ 122,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil refinery of Koch
Refining Company (Koch) located in Nueces and San Patricio Counties, TX
(Corpus Christi port of entry area), and certain Koch pipelines and
terminals in 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
February 11, 1991.
Subzone status is being proposed for the following Corpus Christi area
facilities and pipeline terminals: Site 1 (1,162 acres)--Koch refinery
complex, Suntide Road (on Tule Lake Channel), Nueces County; Site 2 (40
acres)--Koch terminal facility, Tribble Road, Nueces County; Site 3 (19
acres)--Koch coke storage facility, 4908 Upriver Road, Nueces County; and,
Site 4 (200 acres)--Koch's Ingleside ("Gathering Systems") terminal
facility, Highway 1069, Ingleside, San Patricio County. The application
also requests subzone status for Koch's Corpus Christi/Fort Worth pipeline
(450 miles) with terminals in San Antonio (20 acres), Austin (23 acres),
Waco (20 acres), and Euless (Fort Worth area, 31 acres).
The refinery (175,000 BPD) employs 825 persons and is used to produce
gasoline, fuel oil, jet fuels, middle distillates, and a variety of
petrochemicals such as paraxylene, benzene, toluene, and cumene.
Approximately 35 percent of the refinery inputs are sourced abroad,
including crude oil, intermediate feedstocks and components. Some of the
finished products are exported. The Corpus Christi area terminals and coke
facility 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 requests authority to
choose the zero duty rate that applies to certain end products, such as
paraxylene, benzene, cumene and toluene. (The duty on crude oil ranges form
5.25 to 10.5 cents/barrel.) Foreign merchandise would also be exempt from
state and local ad valorem taxes. The application indicates that the
savings would help improve the refinery's international competitiveness.
Inclusion of the Corpus Christi/Fort Worth pipeline would allow Koch to
defer entries until products leave the designated terminals, unless they
are destined for export (including bonded sales).
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has been
approved 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 April 11, 1991.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of the
following locations:
Office of the Port Director,
Government Plaza,
400 Mann St., suite 305,
P.O. Box 1027, Corpus Christi, TX 78403
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., room 4213,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: February 19, 1991.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 91-4391 Filed 2-22-91; 8:45 am]