[Federal Register: August 10, 1995 (Volume 60, Number 154)]
[Notices]
[Page 40819]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10au95-42]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 40-95]
Foreign-Trade Zone 2, New Orleans, LA Proposed Foreign-Trade
Subzone BP Exploration & Oil Inc. (Oil Refinery Complex) New Orleans,
Louisiana, Area
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans,
grantee of FTZ 2, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil
refinery complex of BP Exploration & Oil Inc., located in Plaquemines
Parish, Louisiana (New Orleans 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 August 3, 1995.
The refinery complex consists of 2 sites in Plaquemines Parish,
Louisiana: Site 1 (670 acres)--main refinery and petrochemical
feedstock complex located on the Mississippi River at 15551 Highway 23,
Belle Chasse, some 20 miles south of New Orleans; Site 2 (409,000
barrel leased capacity)--tank farm (owned by Chevron), located on the
Mississippi River at milemarker 25.7, Buras, some 30 miles southeast of
the refinery.
The refinery (250,000 barrels per day; 370 employees) is used to
produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. Fuels produced include
gasoline, jet fuel, distillates, residual fuels, and naphthas.
Petrochemicals include methane, ethane, propane, benzene, and xylene.
Refinery by-products include petroleum coke and carbon black. Some 50
percent of the crude oil (90 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 would be able to choose the finished product duty
rate (nonprivileged foreign status--NPF) 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, 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
[60 days from date of publication]. Rebuttal comments in response to
material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during
the subsequent 15-day period (to [75 days from date of publication]).
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, Hale Boggs Federal
Building, 501 Magazine Street, Room 1043, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230
Dated: August 3, 1995.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-19823 Filed 8-9-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P