BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 23. North Macedonia may join the ranks of countries that systematically receive Azerbaijani gas, a source in the government told Trend.
An announcement on the matter may be made on March 1 in Baku during the 10th meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) Advisory Council.
"North Macedonia received its first delivery of Azerbaijani gas toward the end of 2023, totaling 12 million cubic meters. This year's deliveries have continued and may become more methodical. This relies on the demands of the state and Azerbaijan's capabilities," the source said.
If such regularity is achieved, North Macedonia may become the 10th country in the world for which Azerbaijan supplies gas (albeit in small quantities).
In December 2023, the North Macedonian ESM Prodazba (a gas division of the North Macedonian energy company Elektrani na Severna Makedonija) announced the launch of natural gas purchases from the Bulgarian trader Graystone Bulgaria LTD, whereby the mix of gas received from it includes Azerbaijani gas along with American gas.
It is noteworthy that this gas mixture goes from Bulgaria to North Macedonia through a pipeline that is under long-term management by Gazprom until 2030.
According to European rules, Gazprom has allocated half of its capacity in this pipe to other gas suppliers, among them Graystone Bulgaria LTD (winner of the ESM Prodazba tender, as it supplies the gas mixture for 56 euros per MWh).
At the end of October 2023, the Minister of Economy of North Macedonia, Kreshnik Bekteshi, requested that the Bulgarian government increase gas pumping through the only gas pipeline passing through Bulgaria to North Macedonia, noting that it should not include Russian gas.
Azerbaijan supplied 11.8 billion cubic meters of gas to the EU in 2023 and may increase the volume to 12.5 billion cubic meters in 2024.
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