Greece and North Macedonia to cooperate on fossil fuel supply

Two prime ministers agreed in Athens at a bilateral meeting to maintain the deliveries of fossil fuels to Northern Macedonia from Greece, to continue cooperation in the energy sphere and launch joint investments.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his North Macedonian counterpart Dimitar Kovačevski held a bilateral meeting in Athens where they discussed the energy crisis in Europe.

Kovačevski confirmed that the lignite and coal that has been coming from mines in Greece over the past several years would continue to be delivered.

The leaders of the two neighboring countries discussed multi-level cooperation in the energy sector, especially on infrastructure issues and the need to diversify energy sources and strengthen interconnection, EurActiv reported.

Joint investments in energy sector

Kovačevski said they spoke about the construction of a gas interconnection in Evzoni.

The prime minister of North Macedonia also announced a major investment by Greek company Mytilineos. It plans to build a 200 MW gas plant in the capital city of Skopje.

The two leaders exchanged views on the concession for the construction of the Čebren hydropower plant, for which Greek power utility Public Power Corp. (PPC or DEI) submitted the only valid bid.

The 333 MW Čebren project is for a public-private partnership with North Macedonia’s state-owned utility Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (ESM).

Mitsotakis pointed out that his country can contribute to the energy supply to North Macedonia using the infrastructure it is developing.

Greece is ready to support the neighboring country in times of energy crisis, the prime minister said. He expressed the view it is in the interest of both countries for Greek companies to invest in North Macedonia to connect infrastructure in a way that would boost energy links.

ESM’s Chief Executive Officer Vasko Kovačevski said the prime ministers discussed the delivery of one million tones of coal and 250,000 tons of fuel oil, reports Republika.mk.

The coal is primarily for the needs of the power plant in the REK Bitola complex, and a part is intended for REK Oslomej. The two facilities will get a share of the fuel oil as well while most of it will be delivered to the thermal power plant in Negotino.

Earlier this year the governments in Athens and Skopje signed a contract for 144,000 tons of fuel oil to be delivered by October.