HQ 084959: Offshore drilling and production platform jacket

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                                        HQ 084959

                                     October 5, 1989

             CLA-2 CO:R:CV:G:  084959 JLV (NY 841222)

             CATEGORY:  Classification

             TARIFF NO.:  7308.90.90

             Steven B. Lehat, Esq.
             Sheldon & Mak
             201 South Lake Avenue, Suite 800
             Pasadena, California 91101

             RE:  Offshore drilling and production platform jacket

             Dear Mr. Lehat:

                  In a letter of May 12, 1989, as supplemented in part by a
             letter of May 25, 1989, you request on behalf of your client,
             Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., a ruling on the tariff
             classification of offshore platform jackets, main piles, and
             certain "shiploose" articles for two offshore platforms, the
             Harmony and Heritage.  The classification of this merchandise
             was addressed in our ruling of September 15, 1989 (file
             085145), copy enclosed.  This decision, however, addresses the
             issue concerning the classification of the jacket as a vessel.

             FACTS:

                  Each jacket is a one-piece construction described as an
             8-legged, pile founded structure for the support of an
             offshore drilling and production platform.  It is X-braced and
             contains pre-installed curved conductors, conductor guides,
             and other structural components necessary to complete the
             structural integrity of the jacket.  The jacket will support
             the topside components and the machinery for the drilling and
             production operations.

                  The jackets are transported by barge to location.  Each
             jacket contains instrumentation and flotation devices in the
             legs to permit controlled submersion.  The legs and skirt pile
             sleeves are designed with "buoyancy" compartments which will
             allow the jacket to float in a more or less horizontal















                                          - 2 -

             position after it slides off the barge.  The controlled
             submerging is performed by selective flooding of these
             compartments so that the jacket is positioned vertically at
             the desired location.  Once the jacket is positioned, the main
             piles (which also contain closure diaphragms to reduce the
             load until driven into the seabed) are driven through the legs
             to permanently anchor and complete the structural base for the
             offshore platform.

                  You suggest that the jackets possess the essential
             character of submersible production platforms and, therefore,
             are classified as submersible platforms in subheading
             8905.20.00, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
             Annotated (HTSUSA), and dutiable at a free rate.  You reach
             this conclusion because the jackets meet the description of
             "submersible platforms" in the Explanatory Notes (EN) for
             heading 8905:  they float, can be towed, are submerged by
             controlled flooding of the legs, and have piles which
             penetrate more or less deeply into the seabed.

             ISSUE:

                  Are the platform jackets classifiable under the HTSUSA as
             submersible platforms?

             LAW AND ANALYSIS:

                  The relevant language in EN 89.05(C) is as follows:

                        (C)   Floating or submersible drilling or
                              production platforms.

                              Such platforms are generally designed
                        for the discovery or exploitation of off-shore
                        deposits of oil or natural gas.  Apart from
                        the equipment required for drilling or
                        production, such as derricks, cranes, pumps,
                        cementing units, silos, etc., these platforms
                        have living quarters for the personnel.

                              These platforms, which are towed or in
                        some cases self-propelled to the exploration
                        or production site and are sometimes capable
                        of being floated from one site to another, may
                        be divided into the following main groups:

                              *     *     *     *     *     *

                        (2)  Submersible platforms, the substructures
                        of which are submerged over the work sites
                        with their ballast tanks resting on the sea











                                       - 3 -

                        bed in order to provide a high degree of
                        stability to the working platform which is
                        kept above the water level.  The ballast tanks
                        may have skirts or piles which penetrate more
                        or less deeply into the sea bed.

                              *     *     *     *     *     *

                        Fixed platforms used for the discovery or
                        exploitation of off-shore deposits of oil or
                        natural gas, which are neither floating nor
                        submersible, are excluded from this heading
                        (heading 84.30).

                  The mere fact that the jackets in issue are capable of
             flotation and, if so desired, could be towed to location, is
             not sufficient evidence that the jackets are submersible
             platforms.  The description of a submersible platform
             addresses an article that is complete with topside or working
             platform components.  There is no evidence that the jackets in
             issue, when completed in this manner, are designed with
             "ballast" tanks that would permit them to be towed to
             location.  The design of the "tanks" in the legs and skirts is
             to permit the jackets alone to be positioned and subsequently
             fixed to a location.  In fact, once the jackets are lowered,
             the "ballast" tanks become non-existant, and the construction
             of the topside components takes place.

                  The design, construction, and function of each jacket are
             that of a base for a fixed, offshore drilling and production
             platform.  This type of offshore platform is excluded from
             classification in heading 8905.

             HOLDING:

                  The jackets are not submersible platforms.  They are
             properly classified as structures in subheading 7308.90.90,
             HTSUSA.  Our ruling letter of September 15, 1989 (file
             085145), is affirmed on the classification of these jackets.

                                          Sincerely,




                                          John Durant, Director
                                          Commercial Rulings Division

             Enclosure

















































             6cc:  AD NY Seaport
             2cc:  Chief, CIE
             1cc:  Director, Trade Ops.
             1cc:  AC, CO
             1cc:  Durant
             1cc:  Reading File
             1cc:  Chief, Carrier Rulings
             1cc:  NIS Paula Ilardi

             LIBRARY:   valentin
             FILE NAME: 084959