The sixth Gas Exporting Countries Forum conference is being held in Doha against a backdrop of rising tensions between Russia and Western powers over Ukraine. The forum, which has 11 members and seven additional countries with a watching brief, represents 71 percent of the world’s proven natural gas reserves, as well as 43 percent of its marketed production, 58 percent of LNG exports and 52 percent of pipeline trade across the globe. Here are the updates from the conference: Russia will continue to deliver uninterrupted natural gas supplies to world markets, President Vladimir Putin said in a letter to the conference. The comments came before Germany announced it would be halting the progress of the Nord Stream 2 gas line between the two countries. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi urged gas exporters to avoid any "cruel" sanctions such as those imposed by the US on Tehran, and his government said any revival of Iran"s 2015 nuclear accord with world powers must lift such curbs. Soaring gas prices in Europe started “way ahead of the issue in Ukraine” and are due to a lack of investment in the sector, Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Al-Kaabi said, adding: “Gas is definitely needed in the future.” He also said fossil fuels will need to be part of the solution in the transition toward renewables. Iraq aims to shift its investment priority from the oil sector to gas for the first time in the country"s history, oil minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar said. This would allow Iraq to increase its production of liquefied petroleum gas and distillates, Abdul-Jabbar added. There is no need for OPEC+ to expand its oil production increases, Nigeria"s petroleum minister said, as the group sees a potential deal between Iran and world powers unlocking more supplies. "We don"t have do anything extraordinary this time because we are expecting a lot of production," Timipre Sylva said, according to Reuters. "We are expecting more production if a nuclear deal with Iran works out (since) there will be production from them," Sylva added. He later said Nigeria is working hard to bring oil production levels higher by the end of 2022. According to Reuters, Sylva made the comments on the sidelines of the conference, saying: "We are working hard and we"re expecting that by the end of this year we"ll be able to bring back our production," Sylva said. Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said Qatar’s liquefied natural gas production capacity will rise to 126 million tons a year by 2027. He renewed calls for further dialogue among member countries of the gas forum, as well as gas importers and exporters to ensure the security of global gas supply.