Mark Iden

Several sub-Saharan countries in Africa -- the planet's second largest continent, home to over 600 million people and proven gas reserves of nearly 500 trillion cubic feet -- are considering a number of big ticket pipeline construction projects.

A special pipe laying vessel, the Russian "Akademik Tscherski" has at long last arrived in the Baltic Sea, just east of Rügen, to complete the subsea construction of Nordstream 2.

Against the backdrop of the Corona pandemic what has been touted as " the most significant deal to emerge since the countries signed a historic peace treaty in 1979," Israel and Egypt began implementing an estimated $19.5 billion natural gas deal.

Polish President Andrzej Duda heralded the beginning of a 900-km major gas pipeline from Norwegian waters of the North Sea of Norway, through Denmark, to landfall at Niechorze-Pogorzelica in Poland.  Duda proclaimed the Baltic Pipeline would be a "milestone" in giving Poland independence from Russian gas.

Enbridge's accident-prone 30 inch diameter Texas Eastern Transmission Gas Pipeline, running 14,218-km from Texas and the Gulf Coast to the densely populated northeast of the United States, exploded on a hillside in eastern Kentucky.  Enbridge said that it has shut-in a section of the pipeline and secured the area.

A nationwide program considered by the pipeline industry as vital to its profitability has been suspended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a separate and permanent branch of the U.S. Government.

Last month, on March 20, in response to the U.S.

The oil price war between Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation, with both countries ramping up oil production in a time of dramatically reduced consumer demand worldwide, has moved crude oil prices to 20 year lows this week.  U.S.

The Higher Administrative Court of Berlin - Brandenburg cleared yesterday the last remaining legal obstacle to the completion of the Nordstream 2 Gas Pipeline. The sticking point concerned an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a 500-km portion (called EUGAL) of the 1200-km long pipeline.

In May 2015 a corroded Plains All American oil pipeline burst, spilling nearly 3000 barrels of crude that covered Refugio State Beach near Santa Barbara, California. The incident killed hundreds of marine mammals, fish, birds and other wildlife.