* Books capital gains of $2.9 bln
* Repsol beats target for 2012-2016 asset sales
* Purchase by Shell cements its dominance in LNG
By Andrés González
MADRID, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Spanish oil company Repsol finalised the sale of $4.3 billion in liquid naturalgas assets to Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday, slashingits debt by around a third and helping maintain itsinvestment-grade credit rating.
The deal, originally announced last February, includes thesale of plants in Peru and Trinidad and Tobago and will boostthe Anglo-Dutch company's dominant position in LNG.
Shell said the deal substantially increased the shippingcapacity available to its LNG marketing business and wouldcontribute additional cash flow. It said it paid slightly lessthan originally announced.
Repsol, which will cut its debt by $3.3 billion as a resultof the deal, has been under pressure to reduce what it owessince the Argentine government seized control of its majoritystake in energy company YPF in April 2012. That stakeaccounted for more than half of its reserves and production.
Repsol said it booked capital gains of some $2.9 billion onthe LNG asset sale. The deal means it has divested assets worthmore than 5 billion euros, surpassing a target of 4-4.5 billionset out in a 2012-2016 strategic plan.
Repsol's debt is rated one rung above junk by the three mainrating agencies and Moody's has said its stance was stronglyrelated to the ability of the oil company to reduce debt.
"The formal closure of the operation helps to givevisibility to the debt-reduction targets and the guidance linesset by the ratings agencies," said Alvaro Navarro, an analyst atMadrid broker Intermoney.
A final deal between Repsol and YPF on compensation for theseizure of the Spanish oil major's stake in its Argentinecounterpart, expected soon, will also help reduce pressure onthe Spanish group.
In July, Repsol opened the door to an eventual sale of its$6 billion stake in Spanish utility Gas Natural on theback of the LNG asset disposal, although people familiar withthe matter have since played down the likelihood of a stakesale.
