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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 32-97]
Foreign-Trade Zone 84--Houston, Texas; Application for Foreign-Trade
Subzone Status; LYONDELL-CITGO Refining Company, Ltd. (Oil
Refinery and Petrochemical Complex), Harris County, Texas
An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Port of Houston Authority, grantee of FTZ 84,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the oil refinery and
petrochemical complex of LYONDELL-CITGO Refining Company Ltd.
(LYONDELL-CITGO), located in Harris County, Texas. LYONDELL-CITGO is a
limited liability company owned by subsidiaries of CITGO Petroleum
Corporation (subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national
oil company of Venezuela) and Lyondell Petrochemical Corporation. 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 April 15, 1997.
The refinery and petrochemical complex (645 acres, 1,300 employees)
consists of 4 sites in the Houston metropolitan area of Harris County,
Texas: Site 1 (500 acres)-refinery complex located at 12000 Lawndale
Road, on the Houston Ship Channel, within the city limits of both
Houston and Pasadena; Site 2 (20 acres)--Allendale Tank Farm (4 tanks/
713,000 barrel capacity) located south of the refinery, across Lawndale
Rd.; Site 3 (65 acres) South Tank Farm (16 tanks/1.9 million barrel
capacity) located south of the refinery across Lawndale Rd., east of
Site 2; Site 4 (60 acres)--``225'' Tank Farm (13 tanks/3.6 million
barrel capacity) located south of Sites 1-3, across State Highway 225.
The refinery (265,000 BPD) is used to produce fuels and
petrochemical feedstocks. Fuel products include include gasoline, jet
fuel, distillates, residual fuels, naphthas and motor fuel blendstocks.
Petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products include methane,
ethane, propane, liquid natural gas. propylene, ethylene, butylene,
butane, butadiene, benzene, toluene, xylene, petroleum coke, asphalt,
carbon black oil and sulfur. Some 95 percent of the crude oil (83
percent of inputs), and some motor fuel blendstocks are sourced abroad.
---- page 24081 ----
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 Customs duty rates that
apply to certain petrochemical feedstocks and refinery by-products
(duty-free) by admitting incoming foreign crude oil and natural gas
condensate in non-privileged foreign status. The duty rates on inputs
range from 5.25 cents/barrel 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
July 1, 1997. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to July 16, 1997).
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.
Dated: April 23, 1997.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-11456 Filed 5-1-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P