Qatar Petroleum has announced the official start of operations of the new Qatargas following the successful completion of the integration with RasGas, which was announced in December 2016.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, president & CEO of Qatar Petroleum made the announcement at a press conference held at QP headquarters in the presence of representatives of ExxonMobil, Total, ConocoPhillips, and Shell - the main international shareholders in both companies.

Al-Kaabi said: “Our aim was to integrate the two companies’ resources and capabilities to create a truly unique global energy operator in terms of size, service and reliability. We also aimed to create higher value for our stakeholders, and enhance the competitive position of the Qatari gas industry.”

“It is important to highlight that this integration will ultimately save us around QR2 billion ($545 million) in operating cost annually.

“As of the first of January 2018, all the ventures that were operated by Qatargas and RasGas are now operated by the new ‘Qatargas’, which is the result of the integration of two great energy centres of excellence.”

“Today, I am pleased to announce that we have accomplished our objective with great success, and on time. Qatargas will be the single entity exporting Qatari LNG to the world, under a ONE shared vision, ONE management system, and ONE work culture. It also gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of the current Qatargas CEO Sheikh Khalid Bin Khalifa Al Thani as the CEO for the new Qatargas,” he added.

The integration process will continue to focus on providing enhanced service, reliability, efficiency and effectiveness, as well as strengthening operations groups, which remained unimpacted by the integration, as the highest priority was given to ensuring a safe, seamless and risk-free business continuity. – TradeArabia News Service