Big interest in Greece-North Macedonia gas pipeline tender

A tender offering a contract for the construction of a gas pipeline linking the Greek and North Macedonian systems has attracted considerable interest, including companies from abroad and the neighboring country, energypress sources have informed. Interested parties had until yesterday to submit offers.

Officials expect work on the gas pipeline’s development to begin this coming spring, while the project’s delivery is anticipated within 2025.

The gas pipeline is planned to cover a total distance of 125 kilometers. Its Greek segment will stretch 57 kilometers, beginning from Nea Mesimvria in the country’s north, while the North Macedonian segment’s 68 kilometers will reach Negotino.

The pipeline’s initial capacity will be 1.5 billion cubic meters, annually. It will be built according to technical specifications enabling transportation of renewable gas, entirely.

Greek gas grid operator DESFA and its North Macedonian equivalent, Nomagas, signed an agreement for the project in September, 2023 as a follow-up to a bilateral agreement reached between the Greek and North Macedonian governments in March, 2021.

The European Investment Bank plans to extend funds worth 2.48 billion euros for the Greek-North Macedonian gas pipeline through the EU’s Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF).

 

DESFA tender for gas pipeline to North Macedonia imminent

Greek gas grid operator DESFA is set to announce a tender offering an EPC contract for a natural gas pipeline linking Greece and North Macedonia within the next few days, no later than the end of this month, energypress sources have informed.

DESFA aims to complete the tender by the end of September so that it may reach a final investment decision before the year is out, the sources noted.

In addition, the operator plans for work on the project to begin mid-way through next year and be completed in the second half of 2025, the sources added.

Corinth Pipeworks has been appointed provisional contractor for the project’s pipes. A tender for their procurement was held in May.

The gas pipeline will cover a total distance of 125 kilometers. Its Greek segment will stretch 57 kilometers, beginning from Nea Mesimvria in the country’s north, while the North Macedonian segment’s 68 kilometers will reach Negotino.

DESFA has also taken on the project management role for the pipeline’s North Macedonian segment, after emerging victorious from a tender staged by the neighboring country’s state-run NOMA Gas company.

Greek-North Macedonian gas pipeline decisions imminent

Greek gas grid operator DESFA and its North Macedonian counterpart NOMA Gas are believed to be nearing respective investment decisions for the construction of a natural gas pipeline linking the neighboring countries.

Company officials have been meeting more frequently of late, their most recent session held in Skopje for talks on how to better coordinate funding efforts for the gas pipeline project and to move ahead with tenders concerning its procurement and construction.

DESFA, sources informed, is expected to reach an investment decision by the end of summer, or early September, for the Greek segment of the gas pipeline project, a 55-km stretch starting from Nea Mesimvria in the country’s north.

The Greek gas grid operator is also preparing for tenders concerning pipeline procurement and the project’s construction.

This gas pipeline project promises to diversify the gas supply sources of North Macedonia, currently entirely dependent on its Bulgarian interconnection, experiencing congestion. It will also offer new gas supply routes to the western Balkans.