Skopje, 1 March 2023 (MIA) – The Russian aggression in Ukraine changed the map of gas supply in Europe and transport trajectories. As a result, vast quantities will now be transported through our region, said National Energy Resources (NER) director Barjam Rexhepi on Wednesday at panel “New Regional Energy Avenues” as part of the Skopje Economic Forum.

Rexhepi said several energy forums were held in the past year, at which the main question was whether Europe could survive without Russian gas, and this year, Rexhepi said the answer is yes, we are still alive and survive without Russian gas.

“After the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we learned a lot about the importance of regional cooperation and the diversification of gas supply routes. Last year was a very critical period for our country because we were very dependent on Russian gas. However, with the signing of the agreement with Bulgariatransgaz we liberalized the gas market, and we use other gas supply routes besides Russia,” said Rexhepi.

He announced plans to expand the primary gas network to the Greek border, so that North Macedonia is connected to Greece, Serbia and Kosovo.

 “The interconnection with Greece is of exceptional importance from a geopolitical aspect and for the diversification of our supply sources. Currently, our gas consumption is low due to the insufficiently developed distributive network, but with the beginning of construction of the secondary network in 2024, consumption will surely grow,” said Rexhepi.

He added that the construction of the interconnector with Greece is set to begin in the middle of 2023. The study on the feasibility of the Kosovo connector will be complete this year as well, and the interconnector with Serbia is at an advanced stage and the country will finally apply for funds in 2024 for its construction.

“With the construction of the interconnector, Serbia plans to transport gas through our network and supply other countries in Europe. We also want to construct a second interconnection with Bulgartransgaz from Petrich to Strumica. We are also nearing the end of negotiations with the investors in Alexandroupoli and in the second trimester of 2023, we plan to complete all procedures and acquire 10 percent of the share in the LNG terminal,” said Rexhepi.

If the projects are realized, he said that gas could be transported through the country to the neighboring countries and beyond.

At the panel, director of strategic planning at Bulgartransgaz, Nikola Delev, said they have plans to increase the capacity of the gas storage facility in Chiren from 3.5 to 8.6 billion cubic meters, as well as improve the infrastructure with Serbia and Greece so as to transport larger amounts of gas.

Fernando Kalligas, corporate affairs director of the Greek national gas transmission operator DESFA, said they plan to triple their gas transport capacities by 2025, and added that the gas transport routes have changed after the war in Ukraine, transporting gas from the south to the north of Europe, instead of the other way around. ad/ik/