02/APRIL/2019
An oil pipeline stretching 213 kilometers from an ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum) facility in Thessaloniki to its Okta company refinery and storage facility in the Republic of North Macedonia is expected to be reopened towards the end of this year, roughly six years after the Greek petroleum group shut it down.
The matter has been included on the agenda for a meeting in Skopje today between officials from both sides of the border, led by their respective heads of state, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his North Macedonian peer Zoran Zaev. The two leaders have agreed to sign a series of bilateral agreements and memorandums of cooperation.
Swift progress is being sought in efforts to finalize a customs agreement, align the oil pipeline plan with EU standards and facilitate its licensing.
ELPE intends to utilize the relaunched oil pipeline to transport fuel, especially diesel, in annual quantities of around one million metric tons, far greater than the total consumption in North Macedonia for exports to Bulgaria, Serbia and Kosovo, besides local sales.
30.5.2017
Talks for the reopening of an oil pipeline running from ELPE’s (Hellenic Petroleum) refinery in Thessaloniki to another company-owned refinery in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom) appear likely to resume following the seeming normalization of the political arena in the neighboring country as a result of the recent elections.
Fyrom’s new government, headed by Prime Minister-designate Zoran Zaev, set to assume power in June, will today seek a vote of confidence in parliament with the aim of restoring political normalization. This initiative is expected to unblock various investments, including the ELPE-controlled oil pipeline.
October 21st, 2016, 3:20pm, by Kama Mustafayeva
Greece gas grid operator DESFA and state-owned Former Yugoslav Republic's Macedonian Energy Resources (FYR MER) signed a memorandum of understanding to build a 160-km interconnector linking Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on October 17 in the capital Skopje.
The companies will prepare feasibility study for the line that starts in Nea Mesimvria in northern Greece and ends in Stip. The MoU was signed by DESFA CEO Sotiris Nikas and his counterpart at FYR MER, Krste Miladinov.
The line will connect FYROM to the TransAdriatic pipeline (TAP) now being built, and other prospective nearby gas corridors such as Turkish Stream. It will also provide the Former Yugoslav Republic with direct LNG supply from Greece’s terminal in Revithoussa off Athens, Miladinov said at the signing ceremony.
