AP reported that in spite of US calls to reduce its reliance on Russia's energy supplies, Serbia officially launched a new gas connection on Friday that will carry additional Russian gas through Bulgaria and Turkey to the Balkan nation.

Serbia, a member state for the European Union, relies almost entirely on Russian energy supplies. Washington has encouraged Serbia to diversify its production and use of resources and its imports of American liquid gas, but they appear to be more costly.

So far, Serbia, via Hungary and Ukraine, has received Russian gas. But with Moscow's efforts to bypass Ukraine's pipelines to the rest of Europe, alternate supply routes have been tried.

Reuters reported in the midst of the first delivery of gas, Croatia's LNG terminal on the northern Adriatic island of Krk which has a potential of 2.6 Bcm per year started operations.

More than two decades ago the plans for the Krk LNG terminal floated and the proposal was to construct a land terminal initially. However, the introduction of the project experienced a number of setbacks.

This is due to too high red tape and resistance on the part of the local community and environmentalists, the new conservative administration opted for its floating terminal.

AP reported in line with the Morgan Pipeline operator that recently the pipeline was still under service with quarterly sales decreasing by 10 per cent as a result of lower shipping volumes.

Before entering northern Minnesota, line 3 begins in Alberta and clips a corner of North Dakota en route to Enbridge's terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. In Minnesota, the line is 337 miles (542km) and the aging pipeline constructed in the 1960s will be replaced in the last stage.

The decision of the Corps to grant the pipeline authorization permit violates numerous federal laws and treaties and causes irreparable damage.

Reuters reported that LNG exporters from the North American countries sound more trustworthy with new project prospects for 2021 because of the recent price rally led by increasing demand in Asia.

Europe and Asia have seen a strong increase in demand for more than a year since 2020, especially in China, where buyers have struggled to secure their supply. Gas futures have increased by more than 1 year in Europe and Asia.

Asian nations have driven record LNG growth in replacement of dirty coal-fired plants and fuel consumption. Numerous ventures in North America have been delayed over the last two years because of historically weak prices and oversupply issues.

B Investments Holding has confirmed it has reached an agreement for the total consideration of approximately EGP 146 million to sell 20% of its Total Egyptian stake to Total Outre-Mer under exit terms previously agreed to with Total at B Investments Holding investment at Total Egypt.

If the deal has been completed, the stake of B Investments in Total Egypt will decrease from 7.97% to 6.38%. In 2013, B Investments gained a capital increase of 7,97 per cent of Total Egypt, helping the company increase retail gas stations from 70 in 2013 to 240 in 2020.

Reuters reported on Monday that, the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 consortium said it had finished laying pipes for the project in German waters, completing construction on a 1.6-mile (2.6-km) section of the pipeline that had been delayed by the U.S. sanctions threat.

Earlier on Monday, Refinitiv Eikon report indicates that the Russian pipe-laying vessel Fortuna had left the construction site of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea section of Germany.

The pipeline, which is expected to cost $11.6 billion (EUR 9.5 billion), would make Western Europe more dependent on Russian gas, with Washington arguing that it would threaten the security of European oil.

Egypt said it has signed new agreements involving an investment of approximately $1 billion to quest for parts of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea for oil and natural gas.

The deals are with six foreign and local firms, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., announced Friday by the state-run Middle East News Agency, citing Oil Minister Tarek El Molla's tweet.

In the near future, three other deals are awaiting approval. The deals plan the drilling of 23 wells in nine Mediterranean regions and three Red Sea regions, with a minimum overall investment of $1.4 billion.

On Thursday, Chairman Timipre Sylva, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said the life of petroleum and gas players depends on their willingness to take less costly solutions.

In addition to the potential to deploy lower costs solutions and to explore a broader variety of crude oil to cleaner fuels, many players have a stronger future and survival.

The plan to reinforce the Nigerian oil and gas industry is to turn the national oil company into a diversified energy holding company to quickly respond to the twin challenges of the potential crash in crude oil prices and de-carbonisation by rapidly shifting to become an energy holding company with more divested interests.