NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
(Docket 8-93)
Proposed Foreign-Trade Subzone; Amoco Oil Company;
Refinery/Petrochemical/MTBE
Complex, Texas City, TX
Friday, March 26, 1993
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the Foreign Trade Zone of Texas City-Gulf Coast, Inc., (FTZTC)
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the Texas City oil refinery/
petrochemical/MTBE complex of Amoco Oil Company, located in Texas City,
Texas. FTZTC has an application pending with the Board for a general-
purpose foreign-trade zone in Texas City (FTZ Doc. 7-93, filed 3-2-93). The
subzone 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
10, 1993.
The refinery complex consists of 5 sites located in Texas City, on Texas
City Harbor: Site 1 (997 acres)--500,000 barrels per day refinery and
petrochemical manufacturing complex; Site 2 (39 acres)--dock facility,
leased from the Texas City Terminal Railway Company, adjacent to the
refinery complex on the industrial ship canal and Texas City Harbor; Site 3
(114 acres) --Borden Property, a Superfund site owned by Amoco Oil Company
to be developed for storage facilities, located adjacent to the refinery
complex and north of State Highway F.M. 519; Site 4 (61 acres)--Amoco
Chemical Company Site C (undeveloped), owned by Amoco Chemical Company,
located south of State Highway F.M. 519; Site 5 (215 acres)--Landfarm, a
waste management site for non- hazardous materials, located west of State
Highway Loop 197. The terminals, storage facilities and pipelines operate
as an integral part of the refinery. The refinery (2,300 employees) is used
to produce gasoline, chemical plant feedstocks, gas oils, fuel oil, jet
fuels, distillates, lube oil, and naphtha. The company indicates that MTBE
may also be produced at the facility. Chemical products produced include
refinery gases such as ethane, propane, butane, butylene, and carbon
dioxide; petrochemical feedstocks such as toluene, mixed xylene, ethylene,
propylene, and benzene; and refinery byproducts, including sulfur and
petroleum coke. All of the petroleum coke is exported, and certain
petrochemical feedstocks are transferred to affiliated chemical plants for
processing and export. Approximately one-third of the refinery inputs
(crude oil, feedstocks, and blendstocks, including methanol and 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
petrochemical products, such as ethylene, propylene, butylene, butadiene,
benzene, propane, asphalt, 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 May 25, 1993.
Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted during the foregoing
period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to June 9,
1993).
A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be available for
public inspection at each of the following locations:
U.S. Customs Service, Operations Branch,
1927 Post Office Street,
Galveston, Texas 77550.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board, room 3716,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: March 17, 1993.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
(FR Doc. 93-6931 Filed 3-25-93; 8:45 am)