North Macedonia will supply gas from several sources, Kyustendil-Zhidilovo gas interconnection agreement signed
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North Macedonia will supply gas from several sources, Kyustendil-Zhidilovo gas interconnection agreement signed
North Macedonia will be able to supply gas from several sources through Bulgaria. This has been made possible after the today's signing of the intersystem connection agreement for gas supply and distribution at the Kyustendil – Zhidilovo interconnection point between GA-MA AD and Bulgartransgaz EAD.
"The signing of this agreement is of great importance because it opens up the possibility of increasing the current capacity of the gas pipeline with Bulgaria, as well as releasing additional capacities for use by more suppliers and diversifying our sources of supply, as well as using all sources that are currently present in the natural gas market in the Republic of Bulgaria", said the Minister of economy Kreshnik Bekteshi at the today's signing of the agreement in Sofia.
The agreement was signed by the CEO of GA-MA AD Skopje, Aleksandar Arsić, and the CEO of Bulgartransgaz, Vladimir Malinov.
The executive director of National Energy Resources JSC Skopje, Bajram Redzepi, was also present at the signing of the agreement.
The interconnection agreement between GA-MA AD and Bulgartransgaz determines in detail the conditions, operational procedures and provisions regarding the delivery of natural gas at the interconnection point on the Macedonian-Bulgarian border at the Kyustendil-Zhidilovo interconnection point, in order to facilitate efficient interoperability of the interconnected transmission network.
In particular, the contract regulates the increase in pressure at the compressor station. The technical capacity at the point of delivery will be 3,044,000 standard cubic meters, which means that the technical capacity will increase by 500,000 standard cubic meters with the possibility of releasing additional unused current capacities.
The agreement also changes the methodology for calculating the amount of gas and the method of determining the quality of gas and its analysis and regular inspection, i.e. the measurement of energy will be converted into KWh, instead of the standard cubic meters at a reference temperature of twenty degrees.
The range of permitted gas composition is increased which enables the import of gas from different sources. The minimum/maximum allowed values of the gas composition are equal to those of the neighbors Greece and Bulgaria, where the enter of gas from other sources is also possible.
The start time of the gas day is determined, instead of the current 08:00, it will be 06:00 for the purpose of adjusting to the EU norms.
The start of implementation is agreed to be from 01.01.2023. The period until the start of implementation will be used as a test period between the two operators and durind this period all the work procedures will have to be practically worked out. In the meantime, new contracts will be signed with suppliers and users and new work rules will be adopted.