[Federal Register: November 22, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 224)]
[Notices]
[Page 63786-63787]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22no99-61]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 55-99]

Foreign-Trade Zone 116--Port Arthur, TX; Expansion of
Manufacturing Authority--Subzone 116B, Fina Oil and Chemical Company,
Jefferson County, TX

    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 authority on behalf of the Fina Oil and Chemical
Company (Fina), to expand the scope of manufacturing activity conducted
under zone procedures within Subzone 116B at the Fina oil refinery
complex 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 November 8, 1999.
    Subzone 116B was approved by the Board in 1995 and consists of four
sites with 450 employees in Jefferson County, Texas: Site 1 (1,244
acres)--main refinery complex located along the Neches River at State
Farm to Market Highway 366 & 32nd Street, Port Arthur Jefferson
County); 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

[[Page 63787]]

Arthur; Site 4--Sun Marine Terminal-Nederland tank storage facility,
leased storage (1,278,500 barrel capacity), along the Neches River in
Nederland, Texas. Authority was granted for the manufacture of fuel
products and certain petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products
(Board Order 772, 60 FR 49564, 9/26/95).
    The refinery (180,000 barrels per day; 450 employees) is used to
produce fuels and petrochemical feedstocks. The expansion request
involves a new petrochemical unit. Fina, in a limited partnership with
BASF Corporation will construct a single-train naphtha cracker facility
on 51 acres of Site 1. The new facilities (with 150 additional
employees) will produce ethylene (1.9 billion lbs./year), propylene
(1.2 billion lbs./year), as well as butadiene, styrene, benzene,
toluene and xylene (HTS 2901, duty free). In addition, the expansion
will increase storage capacity by 1.5 million barrels, and increase the
overall crude and condensate capacity of the refinery to 240,000 BPD.
New feedstocks for use in the expanded facilities will include natural

gas condensate, and virgin gas oil (HTS 2710.00.45, 2710.00.05, and
2710.00.10, duty rate ranges from 5.25 cents/barrel to 10.5 cents/
barrel). Approximately 75 percent of the crude oil and 85 percent of
the condensates will be sourced from abroad.
    Zone procedures would exempt the new refinery facility 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 for
certain petrochemical feedstocks (duty-free) by admitting foreign crude
oil and natural gas condensate in non-privileged foreign status. The
application indicates that the additional 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 appointed examiner to investigate the application and
report to the Board.
    Public comment on the application 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 January 21, 2000. Rebuttal comments in response to
material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during
the subsequent 15-day period February 7, 2000.
    A copy of the application and the accompanying exhibits will be
available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, 500 Dallas,
Suite 1160, Houston, TX 77002
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room
4008, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20230

    Dated: November 9, 1999.
Dennis Puccinelli,
Acting Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-30384 Filed 11-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P