[Federal Register: December 21, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[Docket 40-94]
Foreign-Trade Zone 116, Freeport, TX; Proposed Foreign-Trade
Subzone, Fina Oil & Chemical Company (Oil Refinery), Jefferson County,
TX (Port Arthur Area)
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 of Fina Oil & Chemical Company (subsidiary of Fina, Inc.,
affiliate of Petrofina, SA (Belgium)), located in Jefferson County,
Texas (Port Arthur 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 December 13, 1994.
The refinery complex (1,457 acres) consists of 4 sites located in
Port Arthur and Jefferson County, Texas: Site 1 (1,244 acres)--main
refinery complex located along the Neches River at State Farm to Market
Highway 366 and 32nd St., Port Arthur; Site 2 (19 acres)--West Port
Arthur Tank Farm (564,000-barrel capacity), owned by American Petrofina
Pipe Line Company (subsidiary of Fina, Inc.), located at Roosevelt and
53rd Streets, Port Arthur; Site 3 (194 acres)--refinery expansion site,
located adjacent to the refinery at State Farm to Market Hwy 366, Port
Arthur; Site 4--Sun Marine Terminal-Nederland tank storage facility,
leased storage (1,278,500-barrel capacity), along the Neches River in
Nederland, Texas.
The refinery (150,000 barrels per day; 470 employees) is used to
produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. Fuels produced include
gasoline, jet fuel, gas oil, diesel fuel, fuel oil, residual fuels and
naphthas. Petrochemical feedstocks include methane, ethane, butane,
benzene, toluene, xylene, propane and propylene. Refinery by-products
include sulfur, petroleum coke and asphalt. Approximately 77 percent of
crude oil (88 percent of inputs), and some feedstocks and motor fuel
blendstocks 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 on certain
petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products (duty-free). The duty
on crude oil ranges from 5.25 cents to 10.5 cents/barrel. 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
February 21, 1995. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to March 6, 1995.).
Copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be 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
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230
Dated: December 13, 1994.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 94-31359 Filed 12-20-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P