BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 18. ESM Prodazba, the gas division of North Macedonia's energy company Elektrani na Severna Makedonija (ESM), has informed about the start of natural gas supplies from Bulgarian trader Graystone Bulgaria LTD in December, with Azerbaijani gas present in the mixture purchased by North Macedonia, Trend reports.
The information was obtained by Trend from an informed source, while SOCAR (the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan) has yet to make a statement on the matter.
"The gas supplied by Graystone is a mixture of Azerbaijani gas, American liquefied natural gas (LNG), and other types. It does not contain natural gas of Russian origin. The mixture of gases goes from Bulgaria to Northern Macedonia through a gas pipeline, which is under long-term management by Gazprom (a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation) until 2030," the source added.
He emphasized that Graystone Bulgaria LTD was selected as a result of a tender by ESM Prodazba as it offered the lowest price for the gas mixture - 56 euros per MWh.
ESM Prodazba said it needed up to 3,500 MWh per day at favorable prices for December, and Glaystone's offer was the most attractive.
"The most important thing is that in December Azerbaijani gas, albeit in a blend, goes to the North Macedonian market. This is its debut. It is too early to say whether such deliveries will be regular," the source said.
Answering the question of how the mixture of gases without the presence of Russian gas went through the pipeline, which is operated by Gazprom, the source explained that every pipeline in the EU has free capacity of short-term nature, which is used by traders, and Gazprom is obliged to follow all EU directives.
The Minister of Economy of North Macedonia Kreshnik Bekteshi asked the Bulgarian government at the end of October 2023 to increase gas pumping through the only gas pipeline running through Bulgaria to North Macedonia, excluding Russian gas.
Azerbaijan supplies gas to 9 countries of the world.
Azerbaijani gas supplies to the EU in 2023 are expected to reach 12 billion cubic meters (half of the total export volume).