NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(Docket 30-93)
Proposed Foreign-Trade Subzone Amoco Oil Company--Refinery/MTBE Facility
Whiting, Indiana
Wednesday, July 21, 1993
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the Indiana Port Commission, grantee of FTZ 152, requesting
special-purpose subzone status for the Whiting oil refinery/MTBE facility
of Amoco Oil Company, located in the Whiting, Indiana, 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 July 9, 1993.
The facility (1,422 acres) is located at 2815 Indianapolis Boulevard,
Whiting, Lake County, Indiana (parts also stretch into the cities of East
Chicago and Hammond). The refinery (557,000 BPD; 1,600 employees) is used
to produce fuel and chemical products. Fuels produced include gasoline,
gasoline blendstocks and charging stocks, gas oil, fuel oil, diesel fuel,
jet fuel and residual fuel. The company also plans to produce MTBE at the
facility. Chemical products produced include refinery gases such as ethane,
propane and butane; petrochemical feedstocks, such as xylene, propylene and
butylene; and refinery byproducts, such as asphalt, sulfur, petroleum coke,
waxes, and mineral oils. Most of the petroleum coke and sulfur is exported.
All of the crude oil (90 percent of inputs), and some feedstocks, such as
methanol, and some blendstocks, such as MTBE, are sourced abroad.
Zone procedures would exempt the refinery from Customs dutypayments 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 ethane, propane and butane, certain petrochemical
feedstocks, such as xylene, butylene and propylene, and certain refinery
by-products, such as asphalt, sulfur and petroleum coke. (The duty on crude
oil ranges from 5.25 to 10.5 cents/barrel.) Foreign merchandise and
merchandise to be exported would also be exempt from state and local ad
valorem taxes.
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 September 20, 1993.
Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing
period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period
(October 4, 1993).
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available for
public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Department of Commerce District Office, room 1406,
55 East Monroe St.,
Chicago, Illinois 60603
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board, room 3716,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: July 14, 1993.
John J. DaPonte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
(FR Doc. 93-17325 Filed 7-20-93; 8:45 am)