North Macedonia has officially given up on Russian gas and will only buy from Azerbaijan and the US, state-owned “Power plants of North Macedonia” said in a statement.
The Bulgarian company Greystone will deliver gas to ESM for the production of thermal energy from the East and West heating plants in Skopje, and there is no Russian gas in the quantities, but only from Azerbaijan and the US.
In ESM’s announcement for December for the purchase of natural gas, the offer has been reformulated so the energy does not originate from Russia, local media reports.
"The price at which ESM Sales, as the holder of a natural gas trade license, procured it for December is 56 euros per megawatt hour fixed for a variable amount according to needs, and the company Greystone Bulgaria ltd from Bulgaria was chosen, which offered the lowest fixed price. The gas that will be procured from Greystone is a mixture of Azeri gas, American LNG, but not Russian natural gas," ESM said.
One of the points requires a "certificate of origin of the natural gas guaranteeing that the natural gas does not originate in the Russian Federation." If the operator offers Russian gas, he is required to himself pay the extra tax introduced by Bulgaria.
During October, Bulgaria introduced an additional fee of 10 euros per megawatt hour for Russian gas passing through Bulgarian territory. Until now, ESM required bidders to indicate only the "country of origin of natural gas".
For North Macedonia, Hungary and Serbia, this new tax introduced by Bulgaria is an "illegal and hostile act". For this act, North Macedonia also requested an answer from the international institutions (the European Commission and the European Energy Community) to solve this problem.
Due to this tax, North Macedonia asked Bulgaria to increase the capacity of the only pipeline through which gas is brought into the country, so that larger quantities can be provided from other places. Furthermore, the existing gas pipeline is leased to Gazprom until 2030.
