Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical work on a Russian proposal that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas through the TurkStream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey after gas deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea's Nord Stream pipeline were halted.

Qatar is interested in gas exploration in Lebanon, caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad said Friday, a day after President Michel Aoun announced Lebanon's official approval of a U.S.-brokered border demarcation deal with Israel, unlocking significant offshore gas production.

Fayyad said that Qatari Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi has expressed Qatar's interest in joining the companies that will explore the block 4 and the block 9, where the Qana field is located.

Saudi Arabia's push for oil production cuts has placed new strain on its stormy relationship with the United States, though analysts say any predictions of an all-out break are premature.

The move last week by OPEC+ -- composed of the Riyadh-led OPEC cartel and an additional group of 10 exporters headed by Russia -- would reduce global output by up to two million barrels per day from November.

France has for the first time started sending natural gas to Germany, French gas network operator GRTgaz said Thursday, as Berlin strives to diversify its energy supply following the interruption of Russian gas deliveries.

GRTgaz said the gas pipeline connecting both countries at the French border village of Obergailbach has began delivering an initial daily capacity of 31 gigawatt-hours.

Inflation in the United States accelerated in September, with the cost of housing and other necessities intensifying pressure on households, wiping out pay gains that many have received and ensuring that the Federal Reserve will keep raising interest rates aggressively.

Consumer prices rose 8.2% in September compared with a year earlier, the government said Thursday. On a month-to-month basis, prices increased 0.4% from August to September after having ticked up 0.1% from July to August.

Saudi Arabia said Thursday that the U.S. had urged the kingdom to postpone a decision by OPEC and its allies — including Russia — to cut oil production by a month. Such a delay could have helped reduce the risk of a spike in gas prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections next month.

A statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry didn't specifically mention the Nov. 8 elections in which U.S. President Joe Biden is trying to maintain his narrow Democratic majority in Congress. However, it stated that the U.S. "suggested" the cuts be delayed by a month. In the end, OPEC announced the cuts at its Oct. 5 meeting in Vienna.

The German government on Wednesday slashed its growth forecast for this year and predicted that Europe's biggest economy would shrink in 2023 as it deals with the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine, including Moscow cutting off natural gas supplies.

The Economy Ministry said it expects Germany's gross domestic product to grow by 1.4% this year and then decline by 0.4% next year. In late April, it had forecast 2.2% growth in 2022 that would accelerate to 2.5% next year.

Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad announced Wednesday that the fuel oil that Lebanon will receive from Iran for its electricity plants “will be a grant” and accordingly is exempt from “any sanctions.”

“We will follow up on this issue and we have received reassurances that it will move forward,” Fayyad added, after meeting President Michel Aoun in Baabda.

Palestinian shops and businesses in east Jerusalem shut down on Wednesday to protest Israeli police raids in the area that have prompted fierce clashes between police and Palestinian protesters.

Israeli police have been operating in the Shuafat refugee camp in Jerusalem's eastern sector to hunt for a suspect in a deadly shooting attack at a checkpoint on Sunday that killed a soldier.

The pound sank against the dollar early Wednesday after the Bank of England confirmed it won't extend an emergency debt-buying plan introduced last month to stabilize financial markets.

Bank Governor Andrew Bailey said the program will end on Friday as scheduled.