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Italgas, on Wednesday, June 15, pledged it would invest $9 billion (€8.6 billion) by 2028 to modernize the gas grid in Greece and complete the upgrade of its local Italian network.

After months of deliberation and delays Lebanon will sign a final agreement to import yearly 650 million cubic meters of natural gas from Egypt to its energy poor country on 21 June 2022.  

Mention of the project was first made in these pages on 9 October 2021.

The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air has compiled a detailed dataset of pipeline and seaborne trade in Russian fossil fuels during the first 100 days of Putin's War of Aggression in Ukraine. It has found that exports of fossil based fuels soared to 93 billion euros in toto.  

Record-breaking gas prices and market volatility are the new norm.  Russian gas is increasingly being shunned and the EU has declared that it envisions a future without the Kremlin's primary bread-winner:  natural gas.

Researchers from the University of Stavanger operate heat and electricity-producing micro gas plant in South-West Norway using the first-ever gas turbines. The gas turbine also supplies hot water for heating the laboratory buildings in the surrounding area.

Pipeline closure and maintenance work at major oil fields have plunged Nigerian crude oil output to nearly three decades low in the recent weeks, industry source revealed on June 9.

Indigenous Australians are filing a lawsuit to stop Santos, Ltd., an Australian oil and gas exploration and production company, from developing the $3.6 billion Barossa gas project off the coast of northern Australia.  The traditional landowners said they were not consulted about the drilling activities.

The construction of the 580 kilometers pipeline in Western Australia has started. The $460 million worth of pipeline will transport natural gas from the Perth basin to resources projects in the state’s Goldfield.

The Northern Goldfield Interconnect will be part of the 2,690-km gas pipeline network in Western Australia and significantly increase the volume of gas transported inland.

Nigerian state oil firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has received a green light from the Nigerian government to go forward with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a 5660-km gas pipeline via Morocco to Europe.

The first five months of this year witnessed Gazprom delivering substantially less gas to foreign destinations than in the previous year.  27.6 percent or 23.2 billion cubic meters of gas, to be precise.

At the same time, Gazprom transported more gas than previously to China through the Power of Siberia pipeline.  The concern did not mention any numbers.

"This is totally not acceptable," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. “This is a kind of blackmailing from Putin. We continue to support Ukraine, and we distance ourselves from the crimes that Putin and Russia commit.”

Britain's gas grid will, from 2023, start accepting a blend of up to 20% hydrogen as part of the UK's effort to decarbonize its infrastructure.

Looking for alternative energy sources, Europe is looking towards Africa. During the IDA “ENERGY SHOWCASE”, the organizing EITEP Institute tried to answer the question: “Can Africa Supply Europe’s Energy Demand?”. The online discussion was streamed live on LinkedIn on 31 May 2022.

Ukraine has begun to leverage its considerable moral capital by taking aim at the remaining sources of revenue for Russian President Vladimir Putin's military transgressions against its erstwhile ally.  The current target of Ukrainian wrath is none other than Nord Stream 1, the remaining jewel of Russian pipeline infrastructure.

French gas firm Air Liquide on Tuesday, May 24, commissioned its largest liquid hydrogen facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada.

According to the company, the facility, which cost the firm $250 million, will supply the growing demand for hydrogen mobility in California and nearby states and position Nevada as a leader in hydrogen energy production and supply.

Poland has terminated its agreement with Russia on the Yamal gas pipeline to reduce its dependence on Russian gas, the Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa posted on Twitter on Monday, May 23, 2022.

The Iranian Minister for Petroleum, Javad Owji, has agreed to revive a long-stalled undersea gas pipeline project to Oman, the official Iranian news agency IRNA report reported on Saturday, May 21, 2022.

According to the report, the agreement to revive the project was reached during the minister's visit to Oman ahead of Monday's Iranian president's trip to the Gulf Arab state.

TotalEnergies, Sempra Infrastructure, Mitsui & Co Ltd, and Mitsubishi Corporation have jointly signed an agreement to develop the Hackberry Carbon Sequestration (HCS) project at Cameron LNG, a natural gas facility in Southwest Louisiana, US.

Against a backdrop of chronic sabotage and theft of energy resources and hardware, TotalEnergies has launched a sale of its 10 percent stake in Nigerian joint venture Shell Petroleum Corporation (SPDC).  In addition to assets such as 3500-km of gas pipelines connecting two key crude export terminals, the sale includes its interest in 13 onshore fields and three in shallow waters, producing

Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine continues to roil gas pipeline operations throughout Europe.  Late last week, Finland's state-owned energy group Gasum was informed by  Russia's Gazprom Export that natural gas supplies from Russia to Finland would be cut on Saturday at 04.00 GMT.

The EU on Wednesday, May 18 announced plans to invest EUR 2 billion to end its long-term Russia crude oil import dependence through the Druzhba pipeline. This latest move is part of the bloc's plan to reduce its reliance on Moscow's energy following the Russian ongoing invasion of Ukraine since February 24, 2022.

TotalEnergies is implementing a worldwide drone-based emission detection and quantification campaign across all its upstream gas and oil sites as part of its commitment to tackling methane emissions associated with its operations.

BP awarded Subsea 7 a contract for the TOPR project offshore Trinidad and Tobago. According to Subsea 7, the project will be carried out at depths of 280 feet.

The project covers a wide range of tasks, including installing a 12-inch diameter pipeline over 96 kilometers, diver tie-in spools, and an associated shore approach.

Analysts predict an increase in crude oil flow from the US shale field to export hubs located on the Gulf Coast to the pre-pandemic level, effectively ending the desperation of some Texas oil pipeline operators.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to more than imaginable changes in Europe's security architecture and a new normal as the EU member states strive for alternatives to Russian energy. Following the invasion of Ukraine, Madrid has called for the revival of the MidCat gas pipeline planned to connect France and Spain to reduce Europe's energy dependence on Russia.