(Adds Motiva, Shell statements, details, background)
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Motiva Enterprises LLC said on Tuesday the division of its U.S. refiningassets between Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Saudi Aramco
The two Motiva partners announced last March they woulddivide their 20-year-old joint venture. The split, according tosources, had been expected to take place this October aftercompletion of negotiations between Shell and Saudi Aramco overthe division of assets and compensation due the partners.
"While Shell and Saudi Aramco work out the details of thetransaction, Motiva is focused on preparing the organization tofunction as an autonomous entity," Motiva spokeswoman AngelaGoodwin said in an emailed statement. "The separationtransaction between Motiva's owners is targeted to close April1, 2017."
The main sticking point between the two companies has beenShell's demand for $2 billion as part of the breakup, sourcesclose to the talks told Reuters in July.
A Shell spokesman said that given the partners' long historytogether, a change in the timing of the split was notsurprising.
"Discontinuing the Motiva joint venture and dividing theassets, liabilities, and businesses between Shell and SaudiAramco is a complex process given the long-standing nature ofour relationship," said Shell spokesman Ray Fisher. "With aprocess this complex, it's typical to have adjustments andshifts in agreements and timing."
In the March 16 announcement of plans to break up Motiva,the partners said they had signed a non-binding letter of intentunder which Saudi Aramco would keep the Motiva name and the603,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, thenation's largest.
Aramco would also take over 26 distribution terminals andhave exclusive license to use the Shell brand for gasoline anddiesel sales in Texas, the majority of the Mississippi RiverValley, and the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic markets.
Shell is slated to become sole owner of two Louisianarefineries with a combined capacity of 472,700 bpd andShell-branded gasoline stations in Florida, Louisiana and theNortheastern United States.
Sources familiar with the talks said on Tuesday thenegotiations were focused on a different division of thedistribution terminals to reduce or eliminate Shell's demand fora payment. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Terry Wade and PeterCooney)
