By Erwin Seba | HOUSTON: Wed Aug 31, 2016
Motiva Enterprises LLC [MOTIV.UL] said on Tuesday the division of its U.S. refining assets between Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSa.L) and Saudi Aramco IPO-ARMO.SE would take place on April 1, 2017, months later than originally expected.
The two Motiva partners announced last March they would divide their 20-year-old joint venture. The split, according to sources, had been expected to take place this October after completion of negotiations between Shell and Saudi Aramco over the division of assets and compensation due the partners.
“While Shell and Saudi Aramco work out the details of the transaction, Motiva is focussed on preparing the organisation to function as an autonomous entity,” Motiva spokeswoman Angela Goodwin said in an emailed statement. “The separation transaction between Motiva’s owners is targeted to close April 1, 2017.”
The main sticking point between the two companies has been Shell’s demand for $2 billion as part of the breakup, sources close to the talks told Reuters in July.
A Shell spokesman said that given the partners’ long history together, a change in the timing of the split was not surprising.
“Discontinuing the Motiva joint venture and dividing the assets, liabilities, and businesses between Shell and Saudi Aramco is a complex process given the long-standing nature of our relationship,” said Shell spokesman Ray Fisher. “With a process this complex, it’s typical to have adjustments and shifts 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 intent under which Saudi Aramco would keep the Motiva name and the 603,000 barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, the nation’s largest.
Aramco would also take over 26 distribution terminals and have exclusive license to use the Shell brand for gasoline and diesel sales in Texas, the majority of the Mississippi River Valley, and the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic markets.
Shell is slated to become sole owner of two Louisiana refineries with a combined capacity of 472,700 bpd and Shell-branded gasoline stations in Florida, Louisiana and the Northeastern United States.
Sources familiar with the talks said on Tuesday the negotiations were focussed on a different division of the distribution terminals to reduce or eliminate Shell’s demand for a payment.
(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Terry Wade and Peter Cooney)
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
