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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 71-97]
Foreign-Trade Zone 149--Freeport, Texas Application for Foreign-
Trade Subzone Status Amoco Chemical Company (Petrochemical Complex)
Brazoria County, Texas
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Port of Freeport, grantee of FTZ 149, requesting
special-purpose subzone status for the petrochemical complex of Amoco
Chemical Company (Amoco), a subsidiary of Amoco Corporation, located 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 September 9, 1997.
The Amoco petrochemical complex (3,020 acres, 669 employees)
consists of two sites in Brazoria County, Texas: Site 1: Chocolate
Bayou olefins plant (2,334 acres) located on FM 2004 near the city of
Alvin, some 50 miles south of Houston, and Site 2: Stratton Ridge
storage facility (686 acres, eight tanks/8.5 milion-barrel capacity)
located at FM 523 near Angleton, some 15 miles southwest of the plant.
The olefins plant produces a variety of petrochemical feedstocks and
intermediate fuel products, including ethylene (3 billion-lb.
capacity), propylene (800 million-lb. capacity), butadiene (200
million-lb. capacity), butene, liquified natural gas, methane, fuel
oil, naphtha, and benzene. The petrochemical complex is integrated with
the Amoco Oil Company refinery subzone in Texas City, Texas (FTZ 199A,
Board Order 731, 60 FR 13118, 3/10/95), which supplies the
petrochemical complex with nearly all of its feedstock needs, including
foreign-status naphthas, ethane and propane.
Zone procedures would exempt the petrochemical complex from Customs
duty payments on the foreign products used in its exports. On domestic
sales, the company would be able to choose the Customs duty rates that
apply to certain petrochemical feedstocks (duty-free) by admitting
incoming foreign inputs (e.g. naphthas, ethane and propane) in non-
privileged foreign status. The duty rates on inputs range from duty-
free 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
[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, 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.
---- page 49470 ----
Dated: September 12, 1997.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-25106 Filed 9-19-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P