Qatar said Wednesday that Qatargas and RasGas had merged in a move aimed at cutting costs and creating a global energy giant in a plan first announced in December 2016. Qatargas and RasGas, operators of the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry, were merged under the brand name Qatargas. "On January 1, we announced the birth of the new Qatargas," the chief executive of national oil company Qatar Petroleum, Saad al-Kaabi, told a press conference. Kaabi said the merger will save two billion Qatari riyals ($545 million) annually. He added that Qatar wanted to create a truly unique global energy operator in terms of size, service and reliability. The conference was attended by senior executives from ExxonMobil, Total, Shell and ConocoPhillips, which are Qatargas shareholders. Current Qatargas CEO Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa al-Thani has been appointed as the CEO of the new Qatargas.