North Macedonia has started the process of booking regasification capacity at the recently approved Alexandroupolis FSRU-based LNG import facility in Greece.
The government of North Macedonia said in a statement that the start of the capacity reservation process, through state-owned utility AD Power Plants, would open up a second route for natural gas supply to the country besides pipeline gas from Russia.
It could also increase the capacity of gas supply in the country and have an effect on the liberalization of the market and price competitiveness, the statement said.
The statement did not provide any info regarding regasification capacity North Macedonia is looking to book.
Last year North Macedonia showed interest in buying a stake in Greece’s Gastrade, the developer of the Alexandroupolis LNG import facility.
Gastrade said in April it had signed cooperation deals with two state-owned utilities, National Energy Resources NER AD Skopje and AD Power Plants.
Start in 2023
The LNG import project’s FSRU will be located 17.6 kilometers offshore the town of Alexandroupolis in Northeastern Greece.
To remind, Gastrade recently took the final investment decision on the FSRU-based 5.5 bcm import development.
The company’s shareholders include Copelouzou, DESFA, DEPA, GasLog, and Bulgartransgaz.
Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine said last week it received the final notice to proceed from a unit of LNG shipping firm GasLog to convert an LNG carrier into an FSRU.
Following completion of the conversion works, the FSRU will eventually be transferred to Gastrade while GasLog will operate and maintain the unit.
The unit will connect to the Greek domestic gas grid via a 28 kilometers long pipeline and supply regasified LNG to several markets.
This includes Greece, Bulgaria but also the wider region, from Romania, Serbia and North Macedonia to Hungary, Moldova and Ukraine, according to Gastrade.
Gastrade expects to launch the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis in 2023.
