Foreign-Trade Zone 116, Freeport, TX; Proposed Foreign-Trade Subzone, Fina Oil & Chemical Company (Oil Refinery), Jefferson County, TX (Port Arthur Area)

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