Qatargas-RasGas merger completed, resultant gas giant to save QR2bn a year
Qatargas and RasGas, which formally merged and started operating on new year’s day, has already become a global behemoth and is expected to save the country around QR2bn in operating costs every year.
Even before the announcement of the merger in December 2016, Qatargas and RasGas had already been the world’s two biggest LNG producers.
The new combined company will handle all of Qatar’s 77m tonnes of LNG export capacity annually sold through a mix of joint venture agreements with oil majors including ExxonMobil and Shell, reported Gulf Times.
Current Qatargas CEO Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani was appointed as the CEO of the new Qatargas.
“Following the announcement made by us in December 2016, the two LNG companies have merged into a single LNG operating company from January 1, this year, and all the ventures that were operated by Qatargas and RasGas will now be operated by the new Qatargas,” Qatar Petroleum President and CEO Saad Sherida Al Kaabi said, according to Qatar Tribune.
He said the integration aims to create a unique global energy operator in terms of size, service and reliability and also create higher value for stakeholders by enhancing the competitive position of the Qatari gas industry.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s North Field expansion is moving full steam ahead to achieve the targeted 100m tonnes natural gas production, reported Gulf Times.
“The engineering part of the expansion is moving full steam ahead. We’re in the initial engineering phase (of designing) for expansion. It has nothing to do with the partnerships and the structure of how we’re going to form the joint venture or who the partner is. That’s also being worked in parallel,” said Al Kaabi.
“As you would expect, all companies in the world that are based either in Qatar or outside and interested in expanding in liquefied natural gas are knocking on QP’s doors. That’s being looked at… and evaluated. We’ll make a decision at the right time as to who our partners are. There could be multiple partners… because this is a big development,” he added.
Earlier QP had said the new production from the North Field, which is the largest non-associated natural gas field in the world, was expected within five to seven years.
