DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 1-97]
Foreign-Trade Zone 149; Freeport, Texas; Proposed Foreign-Trade
Subzone, Phillips Petroleum Company, (Oil Refinery Complex), Brazoria
County, TX
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by Port Freeport, grantee of FTZ 149, requesting special-
purpose subzone status for the oil refinery complex of Phillips
Petroleum Company, located at sites in Brazoria 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
January 2, 1997.
The refinery complex (2,095 acres, 1,300 employees) consists of 5
sites and connecting pipelines in Brazoria County, Texas: Site 1 (1315
acres)--main refinery and petrochemical complex (200,000 BPD) located
at Texas State Highway 35 at Farm Market Road 524, south of Sweeney;
Site 2 (160 acres)--Freeport I Terminal and storage facility (1.6
million barrel storage capacity) located at County Road 731, some 28
miles southeast of the refinery; Site 3 (183 acres)--six crude oil
storage tanks (2.4 million barrel capacity) at Jones Creek Terminal,
located at 6215 State Highway 36, some 17 miles southeast of the
refinery; Site 4 (34 acres)--San Bernard Terminal and storage facility
(207,000 barrel capacity), located at County Road 378, 5 miles
southeast of the refinery; Site 5 (403 acres)--Clemens Terminal
underground LPG storage (12.8 million barrel capacity), located at
County Road 314, 15 miles east of the refinery.
The refinery is used to produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks.
Fuels produced include gasoline, jet fuel, distillates, residual fuels
and naphthas. Petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products include
methane, ethane, propane, propylene, ethylene, butylene, butadiene,
butane, benzene, toluene, xylene, carbon black oil and sulfur. Some 95
percent of the crude oil (60 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) instead of the duty
rates that would otherwise apply to the foreign-sourced crude oil. The
duty rates on crude oil range from 5.25 cents/barrel to 10.5 cents/
barrel. Under the FTZ Act, certain merchandise in FTZ status is exempt
from ad valorem inventory-type taxes. 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
March 18, 1997. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to April 2 1997).
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 Export Assistance 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: January 7, 1997.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-1259 Filed 1-16-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-25-P