[Federal Register: May 25, 1995 (Volume 60, Number 101)]
[Notices]
[Page 27719-27720]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25my95-35]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 24-95]

Foreign-Trade Zone 115, Beaumont, TX; Proposed Foreign-Trade
Subzone; Mobil Corporation (Oil Refinery Complex), Jefferson/Liberty
Counties, 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 115, requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil
refinery complex of Mobil Corporation, located in Jefferson/Liberty
Counties (Beaumont area), 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 May 16, 1995.
    The refinery complex (3,165 acres) consists of 7 sites in
Jefferson/Liberty Counties, Texas: Site 1 (2,200 acres)--main refinery
and petrochemical feedstock complex located along the Neches River at
End of Burt Road, Jefferson County; Site 2 (51 acres)--Mobil Colonial
Tank Farm, located at 13300 West Port Arthur Road, Jefferson County;
Site 3 (24 acres)--Mobil Hull underground storage facility, located
some 50 miles northwest of the refinery at End of Mobil Road in the
City of Hull (Liberty County); Site 4 (188 acres)--Daisetta underground

petrochemical storage facility, located some 50 miles northwest of the
refinery at End of Bobcat Lane in the City of Daisetta (Liberty
County); Site 5 (625 acres)--Mobil Magpetco Tank Farm, located at State
Highway 366, five miles south of the refinery, Jefferson County; Site
6--crude oil storage facility within the Unocal Nederland tank farm,
located at State Highway 366, adjacent to Site 5, Jefferson County;
Site 7--crude oil storage facility within the Sun Marine Terminal,
located at State Highway 347, adjacent to Site 6, Jefferson County.
    The refinery (330,000 barrels per day; 1,800 employees) is used to
produce [[Page 27720]] fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. Fuels
produced include gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, gas oil, diesel fuel,
residual fuels, and naphthas. Petrochemicals include hydrogen, methane,
ethane, propane, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylene and propylene.
Refinery by-products include petroleum coke, sulfur, lubricating oils,
and paraffin wax. Most of the crude oil (80 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 (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
July 24, 1995. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted

during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to August 8, 1995.)
    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: May 19, 1995.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-12905 Filed 5-24-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P