Esso Standard Oil Co. v. United States

36 Cust. Ct. 286
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 31, 1956
DocketC. D. 1788
StatusPublished

This text of 36 Cust. Ct. 286 (Esso Standard Oil Co. 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
Esso Standard Oil Co. v. United States, 36 Cust. Ct. 286 (cusc 1956).

Opinion

Wilson, Judge:

This case has been submitted for decision upon the following stipulation:

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by and between the parties hereto, subject to the approval of the Court, that the merchandise covered by the above mentioned protest assessed with duty at 12)4% ad valorem under paragraph 1 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the Trade Agreement with Mexico, T. D. 50797, consists of naphthenic acids the same in all material respects as the merchandise the subject of United States v. Esso Standard Oil Co. 42 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 144, C. A. D. 587, and that the record in C. A. D. 587 be incorporated with the record in this case.
It is further stipulated and agreed that the claim in this protest is limited to the claim that the merchandise is not subject to duty or tax- at Y4¡ per gallon under section 3422 of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T. D. 51802 and this protest is abandoned in all other respects.
It is further stipulated and agreed that the protest be submitted on this stipulation.

The foregoing agreement, it will be observed, limits the point for decision by the court to the inquiry as to whether the imported merchandise is subject to the levy of a tax or duty of one-fourth of 1 cent per gallon under the provisions of section 3422 of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T. D. 51802. Furthermore, since the stipulation specifies that the importation before us consists of “naphthenic acids the same in all material respects as the merchandise the subject of United States v. Esso Standard Oil Co.,” it must be assumed, as found by the appellate court in the incorporated case, supra, that the acids in question are not “Petroleum, * * * refined,” and that naphthenic acid is not a “distillate of petroleum.” It also appears from the incorporated record that crude petroleum, as taken from the earth, is the original source of the naphthenic acids under consideration and that such acids are produced by processing crude petroleum and its fractions.

Dr. Edwin R. Littmann, a witness appearing on behalf of the plaintiff in the incorporated case, testified as follows:

Q. What are naphthenic acids? — A. Naphthenic acids are naturally occurring organic acids found in petroleum.
Q. Are they one acid or a mixture of acids? — A. As the term is commonly used in industry, it is a very complex mixture of acids.
Q. Are naphthenic acids a constituent of crude petroleum? — A. Yes. (R. 16-17.)
Q. Is naphthenic acid a constituent of petroleum distillates? — A. Yes. (R. 17.)
[288]*288Q. Will you please define petroleum? — A. Petroleum is a complex mixture of organic compounds, chiefly hydrocarbons, but containing also associated nitrogen compounds, sulfur compounds, oxygenated compounds, perhaps others. Petroleum is usually found in subsoil structures and petroleum is often referred to as one of the constituents or any one of any group of the constituents of the crude petroleum as it is taken from the ground.
Q. How do you define refined petroleum? — A. A refined petroleum is a petroleum which has been either chemically or physically treated to remove such impurities as would interfere with its ultimate use. (R. 33-34.)

Dr. Harry L. Lochte, a witness called by the plaintiff, corroborated Dr. Littmann’s testimony:

Q. Are naphthenic acids found in crude petroleum? — A. Yes.
Q. Is there one acid present, or a mixture of acids? — A. A mixture.
Q. Are naphthenic acids found in distillates of petroleum? — A. Yes, that is where they are usually isolated. (R. 82.)

The testimony of the witnesses Littmann and Lochte as to the existence of naphthenic acids in natural deposits of crude petroleum was corroborated by Dr. Victor K. LaMer, another witness for the plaintiff:

X Q. Do you know how the naphthenic acid, which is involved in this importation, was made? — A. It existed naturally in the oil. (R. 108.)

Gerald M. Fisher, testifying on behalf of the defendant, explained the processes by which naphthenic acid is produced, as follows:

Q. You start with crude petroleum? — A. Yes.
Q. What do you do with that crude petroleum to obtain the gas oil fraction?— A. That is put through a tubular still, the industry uses tubular stills 100 per cent, in which the crude is pumped through tubes into a furnace; at that time the crude is heated up to a high temperature and then goes into what we call a fractionating tower and that fractionating tower has several take-offs. It has an overhead and side — the gasolene being the lightest boiling product, comes out of the top of the column. The kerosene would come out of the take-off just below that, and the gas oil further down on the column. (R. 144^145.)
% * * ¡k % * %
Q. Having obtained the gas oil or the kerosene fraction, what is next done?— A. As I previously started to say, we treat both the kerosene and the gas oil with dilute solution of caustic soda for two purposes. One to refine the product, the other to obtain valuable by-products, namely, naphthenic acids from those particular petroleum distillates. (R. 145.)
A. After the petroleum distillates, gas oil and kerosene, have been contacted, with the required amount of dilute caustic soda solution, they are then pumped to a settling tank and the sodium naphthenate solution settles to the bottom of the tank. We then pump that about a mile to our treating area and put it into storage tanks and allow it to settle as long as possible because it contains certain entrained petroleum oils and we don’t want to have the naph-thenic acids in it because they act as impurities. So we allow it to settle as long as possible, usually three or four days, at which time we have a clear solution of sodium naphthenate in water. That solution is then pumped to another tank to which sulfuric acid is added. In that reaction, the sulfuric acid converts the sodium [289]*289naphthenate into naphthenic acids and sodium sulfate. The naphthenic acids being lighter than water rise to the surface and are skimmed off, and the sodium sulfate solution is pumped away to the sewer. (R. 146-147.)
* * * * * * *
Judge Mollxson: From how many fractions of petroleum may you obtain naphthenic acid?
The Witness: I previously stated it occurs all the way from the gasolene to the residuum in various amounts.
Q. State the fractions. — -A. Gasolene, kerosene, gas oil, lube oil and residuum. (R. 161-162.)

Dr. Vladimir L. Shipp, a witness for the defendant, on cross-examination, identified naphthenic acids as liquids:

X Q. Is it your understanding that all known naphthenic acids, when purified from tarry entrainment, phenolic and sulfur compounds, and freshly distilled, are colorless or yellowish liquid possessing a peculiar odor more pronounced in the low molecular acids? — -A.

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36 Cust. Ct. 286, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/esso-standard-oil-co-v-united-states-cusc-1956.