NOTICES

                           DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

                               [Docket 16-91]

                           Foreign-Trade Zone 124--Gramercy,
                     LA; Application for Subzone, Star
    Enterprise-Refinery and Terminals, Ascension and St. James Parishes,
                                 Louisiana

                          Thursday, April 4, 1991

An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the
Board) by the South Louisiana Port Commission, grantee of FTZ 124,
requesting special- purpose subzone status for the oil refinery and storage
facilities of Star Enterprise (a joint venture involving Texaco Refining
and Marketing (East) Inc., and Saudi Refining, Inc.), located in St. James
and Ascension Parishes (Convent area), Louisiana. 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 March 21, 1991.

The Convent refinery complex (Site 1, 3,940 acres) involves a
225,000-barrel- per-day refinery, storage and docking facilities in
Ascension and St. James Parishes, on the east bank of the Mississippi River
at River Mile Point 168, north of Convent, Louisiana. The company's LPG
underground storage facility (Site 2, 28 acres) is located in Ascension
Parish, some 2 miles southeast of Sorrento, Louisiana (5 miles from the
refinery).

The refinery facilities employ 500 persons and is used to produce gasoline,
fuel oil, and jet fuels. All of the crude oil and secondary feedstocks are
sourced abroad. Some 3.5 percent of the finished products are exported.
Zone procedures would exempt the refinery facilities 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
defer duties until products leave the refinery. The application also
indicates the company plans to choose the zero duty rate that applies to
certain end products, such as sulphur and MEP (a
methane/ethane/propane/hydrogen mix). (The duty on crude oil ranges from
5.25 to 10.5 cents/barrel.) Foreign merchandise would also be exempt from
state and local ad valorem taxes. The application indicates that the
savings would help improve the refinery's international competitiveness.

In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has been
appointed to investigate the applicaton and report to the Board. The
committee consists of: John J. Da Ponte, Jr. (Chairman), Director,
Foreign-Trade Zones Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC
20230; Joel R. Mish, District Director, U.S. Customs Service, South Central
Region, suite 244, 423 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130-2341; and
Colonel Richard V. Gorski, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District
New Orleans, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans, LA 70160-0267.

Comments concerning the proposed zone are invited in writing from
interested parties. They should be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before May 13, 1991.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of the
following locations:
Office of the District Director,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
432 World Trade Center,
2 Canal Street,
New Orleans, LA 70130.

Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce,
14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., room 4213,
Washington, DC 20230.

Dated: March 28, 1991.

John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 91-7896 Filed 4-3-91; 8:45 am]