* Companies split up 3 major refineries, infrastructure
* Aramco to include assets in downstream IPO -sources
* Shell to use assets for $30 bln sales programme
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - The breakup of Royal DutchShell's and Saudi Aramco's giant U.S. refining jointventure draws a line under an often rocky relationship andallows Aramco to accelerate an ambitious public offering andShell to push ahead with a large asset sale.
The two energy giants' plan to dissolve Motiva Enterprisesafter a near 20-year partnership leaves both with fully-ownedrefineries and gas stations in the United States.
Refineries have recently enjoyed a boom time as a near 70percent plunge in oil prices since mid-2014 spurred demand forgasoline from around the world, helping many oil companiesrecover revenue lost from oil production.
"The deal gives both companies a lot of flexibility," saidJason Gammel, an analyst at Jefferies.
Saudi Arabia's oil champion Aramco, which will own thelargest U.S. refinery in Port Arthur, Texas and retain 26distribution terminals, could fold the assets into one globalrefining subsidiary in which it is considering selling a stake,industry sources said.
The giant refining group would most likely comprise ofAramaco's domestic refineries, including its joint refinery withShell in Jubail known as SASREF, as well as its overseas plantsin China and South Korea, the sources said.
Aramco, the world's largest oil company, has said it wasconsidering options including a stock market listing, andpossibly including downstream assets.
The Motiva breakup will also give Aramco full control overwhich feedstock to use at the Port Arthur refinery, which hasbeen a sticking point in recent years as rising U.S. shale oilproduction displaced imported Saudi crude to the detriment ofAramco's strategy of increasing overseas market share.
Sadad al Husseini, a former senior Aramco executive, saidthe move is in line with its plans to maintain market share and raise its refining capacity to 8-10 million barrels per day.
ASSET SALE
For Shell, being the sole owner of the Convent and Norcorefineries in Louisiana as well as marketing operations inFlorida, Louisiana and the Northeastern region offers anopportunity to sell assets as part of a $30 billion saleprogramme over the next three years to pay for its $50 billionacquisition of BG Group last month.
Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden has said Shell'sdisposals would initially focus on the refining, storage andretail divisions, known as downstream, whose value has held upduring the current downturn.
Aramco is expected to pay Shell an as yet undisclosed sum onthe completion of the deal, a Shell spokesman said.
Although an outright sale of the refineries is lessprofitable, Shell will be able to offer for sale much of theinfrastructure linked to the operations, including pipelines,storage tanks and distribution facilities, to other companiesincluding Shell Midstream Partners, a master limitedpartnership (MLP) formed and listed by Shell in 2014.
"For Shell, a lot of assets are suitable for drop downs intothe MLP and now that they have 100 percent ownership of theassets they can do it more easily," Jefferies' Gammel said.
He said the transaction also gave Shell higher production ofgasoline, in particular high-value gasoline blendstock, whichwas the main driver in the global jump in fuel demand last year.
The Norco refinery's close integration with Shell's nearbypetrochemical plant offers the Anglo-Dutch company furtherbenefits, Gammel said. (Additional reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York andReem Shamseddine in Khobar, editing by David Evans)
