DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(Docket 12-96)
Foreign-Trade Zone 116--Beaumont, Texas; Application for Subzone
Status, Clark Refining and Marketing, Inc. (Oil Refinery Complex),
Jefferson County, Texas
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 complex of Clark Refining and Marketing, Inc., located in
Jefferson County, Texas. 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 February 16, 1996.
The refinery complex (5,079 acres, 855 employees) consists of 4
sites and related pipelines in Jefferson County, Texas: Site 1 (3,975
acres)--main refinery complex (215,000 BPD) located at 1801 S. Gulfway
Drive, 3 miles southwest of Port Arthur; Site 2 (775 acres)--Lucas/
Beaumont Terminal storage facility (1.7 mil. barrels) located at 9405
West Port Arthur Road, 15 miles northwest of the refinery; Site 3 (243
acres)--Fannett LPG storage terminal (3 mil. barrels) located at 16151
Craigen, near Fannett, some 25 miles west of the refinery; and Site 4
(86 acres)--Port Arthur Products storage facility (1.8 mil. barrels)
located at 1825 H.O. Mills Road, 4 miles northwest of the refinery. The
refinery, storage facilities and pipelines operate as an integral part
of the refinery complex.
The refinery complex is used to produce fuels and petrochemical
feedstocks. Fuels produced include gasoline, jet fuel, distillates,
diesel, and residual fuels. Petrochemical feedstocks include methane,
ethane, propane, butane, butylene, propylene. Refinery by-products
include sulfur and petroleum coke. About 65 percent of the crude oil
(95 percent of inputs), and some feedstocks and motor fuel blendstocks
used in producing fuel products are sourced abroad.
Zone procedures would exempt the operations involved 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 duty-free 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
April 29, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to May 14, 1996).
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, #1 Allen Center, Suite
1160, 500 Dallas, Houston, Texas 77002.
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: February 22, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-4546 Filed 2-27-96; 8:45 am]