Royal Dutch Shell is reportedly seeking as much as $2 billion from Saudi Aramco tied to the breakup of the Motiva joint venture.
Sources close to the matter told Reuters that Shell is seeking between $1 billion to $2 billion as compensation for Saudi Aramco retaining a larger share of the JV’s assets and refining capacity.
Both Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco declined to comment on the matter, Reuters said.
Saudi Aramco and Shell announced in March that they planned to unwind the downstream Motiva joint venture.
The Motiva JV was formed in 1998 and has operated as a 50/50 refining and marketing joint venture between the firms since 2002.
In the proposed division of assets, Saudi Refining (SRI) will retain the Motiva name, assume sole ownership of the Port Arthur, Texas refinery and hold on to 26 distribution terminals.
The Port Arthur refinery is the largest refinery in the United States with a capacity of 600,000 barrels per crude oil day.
SRI will also have an exclusive license to use the Shell brand for gasoline and diesel sales in Texas, the majority of the Mississippi Valley and the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic markets.
Shell will assume sole ownership of the Norco, Louisiana refinery, where Shell operates a chemicals plant, the Convent, Louisiana refinery, nine distribution terminals and Shell branded markets in Florida, Louisiana and the Northeastern region.
“Motiva’s performance has been transformed in the last two years. We propose to combine the assets we will retain from the joint venture with Shell’s other Downstream assets in North America,” Shell Downstream Director John Abbott said when the breakup was announced.
