Asiatic Petroleum Corp. v. United States

43 Cust. Ct. 252, 183 F. Supp. 275, 12 Oil & Gas Rep. 841, 1959 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 19
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedDecember 4, 1959
DocketC.D. 2137
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 43 Cust. Ct. 252 (Asiatic Petroleum Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Asiatic Petroleum Corp. v. United States, 43 Cust. Ct. 252, 183 F. Supp. 275, 12 Oil & Gas Rep. 841, 1959 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 19 (cusc 1959).

Opinion

DoNloN, Judge:

Plaintiff imported from Holland a preparation for the lubrication of marine diesel engines. This preparation is sold under the trade name Shell Alexia Oil A. The collector classified it under paragraph 1558 as an unenumerated manufactured product, dutiable at the modified rate of 10 per centum ad valorem, and plaintiff protested the classification. It is plaintiff’s contention that this preparation should be classified as a distillate obtained from petroleum, entitled to duty free entry under paragraph 1733.

Plaintiff also claims that if we should decide this suit in its favor on that issue, then it follows that the collector should have imposed internal tax on the imported merchandise under section 4521 of the Internal Revenue Code at the rate of 2 cents per gallon, which is the modified rate of internal tax on lubricating oil. The collector did not assess any internal tax on this merchandise. In this respect, the protest seems to attack, but only on a conditional basis, some alleged decision of the collector that this merchandise is not a lubricating oil and, therefore, not subject to internal tax as such.

We are of opinion, as defendant argues, that this suit raises no litigable issue as to internal tax. Besides the grounds that are advanced by defendant in that respect, it clearly does not follow, as plaintiff seems to argue, that a lubricating preparation which may be taxable under section 4521 of the Internal Revenue Code is ipso facto a distillate obtained from petroleum within the duty free provision of paragraph 1733 of the Tariff Act of 1930, or vice versa.

We proceed to consider the issue which the protest properly raises, namely, whether this imported Shell Alexia Oil A is, for tariff purposes, a distillate obtained from petroleum within the congressional intent in enacting paragraph 1733. Plaintiff does not claim any classification other than under paragraph 1558 in the event that we overrule plaintiff’s claim for paragraph 1733 classification.

Shell Alexia Oil A is made from certain basic lube stocks. Those stocks are distillates of petroleum. The record makes that fact clear, and neither party disputes it. After the distillates have been mixed together, or blended, there are added to the blended mixture of distillates certain chemicals, including sulfonates, calcium sulfonates, and calcium acetate. These, which are known as “lube oil additives,” may be in volume as high as 5 to 7 per centum of the mixture, or as [254]*254low as 0.3 or 0.4 per centum. For reasons not made entirely clear in the testimony, the proportions vary considerably.

These chemical additives will not blend into the basic lube stock if they are introduced directly into the mixture. There has to be an emulsifier. The emulsifier used is water, plus a “coupling agent” additive. The water used is considerable, as much as 30 per centum of mixture volume. The mixture of basic lube stocks, chemical additives and water with coupling agent additive, is emulsified. Emulsification is the process of dispersing the fine particles or globules of a liquid into a liquid.

Paragraph 1733, in relevant part, provides as follows:

Par. 1733. Oils, mineral: Petroleum, crude, fuel, or refined, and all distillates obtained from petroleum, including kerosene, benzine, naphtha, gasoline, paraffin, and paraffin oil, not specially provided for. [Emphasis supplied.]

In United States v. Esso Standard Oil Co., 42 C.C.P.A. (Customs) 144, C.A.D. 587, our appeals court reviewed court decisions, dictionary definitions (including definitions from technical as well as general dictionaries), and also the report that was before Congress when the provision “distillates obtained from petroleum” was substituted, in the Tariff Act of 1922, for the prior provision “products obtained from petroleum” of the Tariff Act of 1913. As to the meaning of the term, our appeals court said, in the Esso case, supra, at page 155:

... In the common meaning of the word, a distillate is so-called because something significant happened to it in the distillation process, i.e., it was separated, or purified, or identified by distillation. Kerosene, or gas oil, for example, are practically indefinable without reference to distillation or its effects; they owe their identity to the process of distillation. [Emphasis quoted.]

Plaintiff has adduced the testimony of three witnesses, all qualified as experts in various phases of petroleum processing.

Mr. Erwin Landau holds the degree of bachelor of science in chemical engineering and also the degree of science in chemistry. He has had many years of technical experience in petroleum refining. For the past 14 years, his experience has been more particularly with lubricating oils.

Mr. E. M. Henshaw holds the degree of mechanical engineer. He has had 30 years of experience in the oil business, the last 15 years with Shell Oil Co. as marine representative in their lubricants department.

Mr. E. G. Travis is a technologist in charge of “quality questions” in the manufacturing division of Shell Oil Co., a position which he has held for 16 years.

The testimony of these expert witnesses, as developed on direct examination and cross-examination, may be summarized in relevant part as follows:

[255]*255Lubricating oils function to reduce friction, dissipate 'heat, protect against rust or corrosion, and clean away sludge. (R. 16.) All lubricating oils are prepared by a process, whicb was described by Mr. Landau as follows:

. . . the heavy distillate fraction of petroleum crude oil is further distilled under vacuum, which is then followed by a solvent extraction, which is followed by a solvent dewaxing, then occasionally is followed by acid treatment, and then clay filtration, which permits the basic stocks to then be run down to separate storage tanks.
Now, these basic stocks are later blended together in mixing tanks, to meet— well, they are blended together in the right proportions, or formulation, to meet certain specifications of viscosity and flash and gravity, and then to this mixture is added a chemical or chemicals, which are known as additives. These are mainly used to enhance the properties of the lubricating oil. They are — of course, the lubricating oil itself, as represented by the basic stocks, has four main aspects, namely, slipperiness, the ability to cool, to clean, and to impart anti-corrosion. [R. 15.]

The process by whicb Shell Alexia Oil A is prepared was described by witness Landau as follows:

. . . the process is very similar to the one that we outlined previously, only in this case after the lube baste stoelcs are mixed together the additives are introduced in a water solution. This water solution — there is a considerable amount of water, by the way — is necessary in order to keep the additives in while dispersed in the mixtures. If you were to try to introduce as much of the alkaline metallic additive, without the water solution, it wouldn’t stay dispersed in the mineral oil. But the additives are only there to enhance the property of this lubricating oil mixture. [R. 17; emphasis supplied.]

The additives make no chemical change in the base stocks. (R. 17.) They enhance the existing properties of the basic lube stock. (R. 18.) They do not introduce any new “characteristical function.” (R.

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Related

Asiatic Petroleum Corp. v. United States
64 Cust. Ct. 47 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)
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Bluebook (online)
43 Cust. Ct. 252, 183 F. Supp. 275, 12 Oil & Gas Rep. 841, 1959 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/asiatic-petroleum-corp-v-united-states-cusc-1959.