NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(Docket 21-93)
Proposed Foreign-Trade Subzone Amoco Oil Company; Refinery/MTBE Facility,
Yorktown, VA
Friday, May 28, 1993
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the Virginia Port Authority, grantee of FTZ 20, requesting
special-purpose subzone status for the Yorktown oil refinery/MTBE facility
of Amoco Oil Company, located in the Yorktown, Virginia, area. 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 May 19, 1993.
The refinery (747 acres) is located at 2201 Godwin Neck Road in Grafton
(York County), Virginia, some 5 miles southeast of Yorktown, along the York
River. The refinery (250 employees) is used to produce fuel and chemical
products. Fuels produced include gasoline, gas oils, fuel oil, diesel fuel,
jet fuels and residual fuels. The company indicates that MTBE may also be
produced at the facility. Chemical products produced include refinery gases
such as ethane, methane, propane, and butane; and refinery byproducts,
including sulfur and petroleum coke. Most of the petroleum coke and sulfur
is exported. All of the crude oil, constituting some 90 percent of inputs,
and some blendstocks, such as MTBE, 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 is
seeking to avoid duties on fuel used in the refinery and to choose the
finished product duty rate in certain circumstances. For example, the
company proposes to choose the zero duty rate that applies to certain
refinery gases, such as methane, ethane, butane, propane, and certain
refinery by-products, such as sulfur and petroleum coke. (The duty on crude
oil ranges from 5.25 to 10.5 cents/barrel.) MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl
ether) is one of the blendstocks sourced from abroad. On MTBE which is
blended with gasoline at the refinery and then sold in the U.S., Amoco
proposes to choose the finished gasoline duty rate (1.25 cents/gallon). The
duty rate on MTBE would otherwise be 5.6%. The application indicates that
the savings from zone procedures would help improve the refinery's
international competitiveness.
In accordance with the Board's regulations (as revised, 56 FR 50790-50808,
10- 8-91), 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 July 27, 1993.
Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing
period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period to August 11,
1993. A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available
for public inspection at each of the following locations:
Office of the Port Director,
U.S. Customs Service, Southeast Region,
25th and Warwick Blvd.,
Newport News, Virginia 23607.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 3716,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: May 21, 1993.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
(FR Doc. 93-12736 Filed 5-27-93; 8:45 am)