The European Commission sees no need to convene a session of its gas coordination group now that the Russian-Belarusian gas dispute has been partially resolved, the EU's executive branch said Friday.

Belarus has made the first payment on a nearly $500 million gas debt to Russia, and now has another week to make the rest of the payment. Russia had threatened to reduce gas volumes delivered to Belarus by 45 percent if Minsk did not pay its debt.

Russian gas giant Gazprom said Wednesday it would reduce natural gas deliveries to Belarus by 45% from August 3 over outstanding payments, adding that Europe-bound supplies would not be affected.

Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Sidorski's office announced today that he will travel to Moscow on July 30 to seek a compromise with Russia's Gazprom on repayment of a $500 million debt.

Italy, Turkey, and Greece have signed an agreement to build a pipeline to bring natural gas from the Caspian and the Middle East to European markets, Italy's Edison gas company said Thursday.

Worsening Russia-U.K. relations could be partly due to energy giant Gazprom's new role in the Sakhalin II project in Russia's Far East, the head of the Audit Chamber said Wednesday.

Pakistan wants Russian energy giant Gazprom to play an important role in a project to build a natural gas pipeline linking India, Pakistan and Iran, Islamabad's ambassador to Moscow said Thursday.

Turkey's agreement with Iran to transport some 30 billion cubic meters of Iranian and Turkmen natural gas westward to Europe has prompted criticism in the United States, where officials are seeking to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

China signed deals Tuesday to produce and import natural gas from Turkmenistan, a major step in the realignment of the resource-rich central Asian country away from its former rulers in Russia, a news report said.

Iran, Pakistan and India have agreed on a formula for the price of natural gas to be pumped through a pipeline that will link the three countries, India's Asian Age daily said.

French Total SA was given a major role in developing the huge Shtokman gas field when it signed an agreement with Russia's Gazprom.

French oil major Total SA said Thursday it may be close to a deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] to participate in the first phase of the Shtokman natural gas project in the Barents Sea.