Skopje, 29 July 2022 (MIA) – Power Plants of North Macedonia (ESM) director Vasko Kovachevski is an optimist that coal quantities will be sufficient for the coming winter. “It is our duty to have about 100,000 tonnes of coal reserves at all times. This means that if coal is neither produced nor there is any supply, we will have quantities for about ten days. However, this has never happened and will not happen,” Kovachevski told Telma TV. Coal reserves are increasing during the fall and there should be about 200,000-250,000 tonnes available by October, which would guarantee secure production during the heating season. Crude oil is also being procured for restarting of thermal power plant Negotino, which is set to launch operations this weekend. Kovachevski also announced that a call for procurement of about 180,000-200,000 tonnes of crude oil is to be published in August, a quantity that should be sufficient for the November-April period.