Page 9 - EurOil Week 44 2022

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

North Macedonia and Bulgaria sign

deal on gas interconnection

BALKANS NORTH Macedonia will be able to procure nat- The agreement will also open the way for
ural gas from several sources via Bulgaria after additional capacities by using gas from more
North Macedonia will the gas companies of the two countries signed an suppliers and diversifying sources of gas supply.
be able to procure agreement on intersystem connection on Octo- The implementation of the agreement will
the gas from several ber 31 in Sofia. start on January 1, 2023. The period until the
sources. Before the sanctions on Moscow, North Mac- start of implementation will be used as a test
edonia had been receiving only Russian gas via period between the two operators.
Bulgaria. The agreement, which is in line with In particular, the contract regulates the
the EU directives, will increase competition in increase in pressure at the compressor station.
the gas market and will stop the monopoly role of The technical capacity at the point of delivery
some companies in North Macedonia. will be 3,044,000 standard cubic metres, which
North Macedonia’s gas operator GA-MA and means that it will increase by 500,000 standard
its Bulgarian peer Bulgartransgaz signed the cubic metres with the possibility of releasing
agreement on gas interconnection at the Kyus- additional capacities.
tendil (Bulgaria)/Zhidilovo (North Macedonia) The range of permitted gas composition is
border point. increasing, which enables the import of gas
“The signing of the agreement is of great from different sources. The minimum/max-
importance because it opens up the possibility imum allowed values of the gas composition
of increasing the current capacity of the gas pipe- are equal to those of Greece and Bulgaria,
line with Bulgaria,” Economy Minister Kreshnik where it is also possible to enter gas from
Bekteshi said in the statement. other sources. ™

Week 44 07•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9