Page 8 - Euroil Week 07 2020

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil
North Macedonia seeks private partner for €300mn gas grid
NORTH MACEDONIA
The project is expected to reduce electricity bills by up to 75%.
NORTH Macedonia’s economy ministry announced a public call for a private partner for the construction of a €300mn gas distribution network in the country on February 14.
e project, one of the most important in the energy sector, which will represent an alternative for heating, is expected to reduce household elec- tricity bills by up to 75%.
“ e public call marks the start of the rst phase of the three-stage process of hiring a pri- vate partner to build a natural gas distribution system throughout the country,” Economy Min- ister Kreshnik Bekteshi said in the statement.
e concession agreement will be awarded for a period of 35 years.
e rst stage will last 120 days and interested investors have until June 9 to apply.
The authorities expect to establish a pub- lic-private partnership by the end of the year, while the construction to start in the fourth quarter in several cities. e construction of the primary transmission network is expected to be completed by mid-2021.
“However, next year will be the year of mas- sive construction of the country’s gas distri- bution network,” director of National Energy Resources (NER) Bajram Redzepi said.
Redzepi emphasised that currently there is a huge interest in the project among foreign companies.
e construction of the distribution network will take about four years.
According to the feasibility study, the private partner will have an obligation to build at least 50% of the network in urban municipalities and
at least 20% in rural municipalities within up to four years from receiving a building permit.
One of the conditions is that the gas con- nection for households must cost no more than €100, but an internal adaptation of an apart- ment of about 85 sqm will cost about €1,500 on average.
“But I expect the costs to be lower because of the huge competition in this sector,” Redzepi said.
North Macedonia also has plans to build an interconnection point to enable the delivery of gas from Greece near the southern town of Gevgelija, the Gevgelija municipality announced on February 17.
e gas interconnector with Greece is a pro- ject supported by the EU and bilateral donors to the Western Balkans.
The interconnector that will be built between the villages of Bogorodica and Stojak- ovo will represent another delivery point for natural gas besides the existing one that brings gas from Russia via Bulgaria, the municipal- ity said in the statement, a er mayor Sasho Pockov met o cials from state-run Natural Energy Resources.
e gas pipeline from Greece will be con- nected with the other pipeline, which brings gas from Bulgaria, near Negotino.
e interconnector project is due to be com- pleted by the end of this year.
e interconnector with Greece is an impor- tant project that will enable the potential connec- tion of North Macedonia with TAP gas pipeline and LNG terminals on the Aegean coast.™
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 07 20•February•2020