[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 124 (Wednesday, June 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33093-33094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-16190]



=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 51-96]


Foreign-Trade Zone 47--Boone County, Kentucky; Application for 
Subzone Status, Ashland Inc. (Oil Refinery Complex), Boyd and Daviess 
Counties, Kentucky

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board 
(the Board) by the Greater Cincinnati Foreign Trade Zone, Inc., grantee 
of FTZ 47, Boone County, Kentucky, area, requesting special-purpose 
subzone status for the oil refinery complex of Ashland Inc., located at 
sites in Boyd and Daviess Counties, Kentucky. 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 June 17, 1996.
    The refinery complex (1,250 employees) consists of 2 sites and 
connecting pipelines in northern Kentucky: Site 1 (1,029 acres)--main

[[Page 33094]]

refinery complex (220,000 BPD capacity) located at the intersection of 
Interstate Hwy 64 and US Hwy 23 on the Big Sandy River, Boyd County, 
Kentucky, south of Catlettsburg, including a refined product storage 
and terminal facility located north of the refinery, across the river 
in Kenova (Wayne County), West Virginia; Site 2 (30 acres)--Ashland 
Pipe Line Co. crude oil terminal (4 tanks/771,000 barrel capacity) 
located at 1046 Pleasant Valley Road, Daviess County, east of 
Owensboro, Kentucky. The refinery, terminals and pipelines operate as 
an integrated refinery complex.
    The refinery complex is used to produce fuels and petrochemical 
feedstocks. Fuel products produced include gasoline, jet fuel, 
distillates, diesel fuel, fuel oil, naphtha and MTBE. Petrochemical 
feedstocks and refinery by-products include methane, ethane, propane, 
benzene, toluene, xylene, cumene, propylene, ethylene, butylene, 
butadiene, isobutene-isoprene, naphthalene, carbon black oil, paraffin 
waxes, sulfur and asphalt. Some 70 percent of the crude oil (97 percent 
of inputs), and some feedstocks and motor fuel blendstocks used in 
producing fuel products may be sourced abroad.
    Zone procedures would exempt the operations involved 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) instead of the duty 
rates that would otherwise apply to the foreign-sourced inputs (e.g., 
crude oil, natural gas condensate). The duty rates on inputs ranges 
from 5.25 cents/barrel to 10.5 cents/barrel. Foreign merchandise would 
also be exempt from state and local ad valorem 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 
August 26, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to material submitted 
during the foregoing period may be submitted during the subsequent 15-
day period (to September 9, 1996).
    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 807, 405 
Capitol Street, Charleston, West Virginia 25301
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room 
3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20230.

    Dated: June 18, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-16190 Filed 6-25-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P