OKTA

Greek-North Macedonian oil pipeline relaunch back on track

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A Greek-North Macedonian oil pipeline, out of use over the past decade, appears to be back on track for a reopening following such a step’s approval by the neighboring country’s regulatory authority.

The pipeline’s owner, Vardax, a subsidiary of Helleniq Energy, formerly named Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE), had submitted a request in November, 2022 for the pipeline to be put back into operation, but the pending issue had remained unresolved.

Helleniq Energy CEO Andreas Siamisiis revealed the news of the North Macedonian regulatory authority’s approval of his company’s request for the pipeline’s reopening in an interview with Greek daily Kathimerini.

The pipeline was developed in 2002 to link the Greek company’s Thessaloniki refineries with its OKTA refinery in North Macedonia.

In 2013, the Greek energy group decided to change the use of the pipeline for the transport of clean products. However, it has remained dormant until the present as a result of the delayed new license, despite the modification of infrastructure.

The pipeline is fully ready to operate, Siamisiis, the Helleniq Energy CEO, has stressed. A comprehensive inspection of the pipeline was recently completed, extending its operating ability to June, 2051.

Helleniq Energy intends to transport diesel fuel through the pipeline once it is reopened.

If reopened, the pipeline, whose current capacity measures 2.5 million tons, annually, promises to offer multiple benefits for both Greece and for the energy group.

Energy security and sufficiency in the wider Balkan region would be reinforced, while Greece’s role as an important regional energy hub would be enhanced, the Helleniq Energy CEO pointed out.

 

ELPE upbeat on relaunch of Thessaloniki-Skopje oil pipeline

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Hellenic Petroleum ELPE has acknowledged the governments of Greece and North Macedonia are working intensely for the reopening of an oil pipeline linking the petroleum group’s Thessaloniki refinery with its Okta subsidiary refinery in the neighboring country’s capital, Skopje, estimating the pipeline will reopen in the first quarter of 2022.

The pipeline has remained closed since 2016. ELPE has already proceeded with necessary maintenance work to protect the pipeline from internal corrosion and ensure it will be ready to operate once administrative and bureaucratic procedures have been completed.

A report published by ELPET Valkaniki, a fully owned ELPE subsidiary for Balkan markets, noted that OKTA stopped processing crude oil early in 2013 for business reasons after deciding to operate commercially with imports of finished products, a move that kept the pipeline inactive.

 

North Macedonia energy business opportunities for local players

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Greek companies stand a great chance of gaining further presence in North Macedonia’s energy market through participation in projects and investments promising to contribute to the country’s diversification of energy sources and capture a bigger energy-mix share for green energy, the neighboring country’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev made clear during comments in Athens yesterday.

North Macedonia appears determined to reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels and also cut back on carbon emissions, objectives offering investment opportunities for Greek energy groups, currently eyeing the neighboring market as part of plans to increase their business interests abroad.

The North Macedonian leader said yesterday that an agreement concerning the relaunch of Hellenic Petroleum ELPE’s Thessaloniki-Skopje oil pipeline is nearing finalization.

“The idea is to have reached an agreement with them by the end of May so that this important pipeline can begin operating,” Zaev remarked.

The oil pipeline’s reopening would be combined with the conversion of ELPE’s North Macedonian OKTA refinery into a petroleum products distribution hub covering the western Balkan region.

ELPE currently operates 27 petrol stations in North Macedonia through its OKTA subsidiary. Also active in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, the Greek petroleum group operates over 200 petrol stations in the wider region.

Zaev added that North Macedonia is involved in negotiations with a Greek company, presumed to be Mytilineos, for the development of a natural gas-fueled power station in the capital, Skopje. These talks, however, still appear to be at an early stage.

Also this week, Greek energy minister Kostas Skrekas told participants of the Delphi Economic Forum that a bilateral agreement for a Greek-North Macedonian gas pipeline interconnection is virtually ready and awaiting the approval of European authorities.

For North Macedonia, this gas pipeline project would end Russia’s monopoly in the country’s gas market, enabling more competitive gas prices and reinforced supply security, while for Greece, the gas pipeline’s development would represent a further step in the country’s objective to transform into a regional gas hub.

North Macedonia eyeing 25% stake in Alexandroupoli gas facility, PM says

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North Macedonia may participate with a 25 percent stake in a natural gas facility in Alexandroupoli, northeastern Greece, that promises to offer a production capacity double the size of the country’s gas shortage, totaling 2 GWh, North Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has told state broadcaster Alsat.

Also, bureaucratic procedures concerning the development of a natural gas pipeline from Greece to North Macedonia are close to being completed, while talks with Okta, a Hellenic Petroleum (ELPE) subsidiary, for a relaunch of the company’s oil pipeline running from Thessaloniki to Skopje are continuing, Zaev noted.

The North Macedonian leader also expressed an interest for the country to participate as a shareholder in the company to develop the Alexandroupoli FSRU, noting the country plans to utilize natural gas for all state facilities as “American LNG is far cheaper”.

The Alexandroupoli FSRU is expected to facilitate supply of American LNG to the Balkan region.

ELPE seeking greater North Macedonia market share

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Hellenic Petroleum ELPE, aiming to capture a bigger share of the North Macedonian market, is currently negotiating for extrajudicial solutions that would enable the reopening of a company oil pipeline linking Thessaloniki with Skopje.

In an effort to help resolve this issue, ELPE has proposed a series of RES investments in the neighboring country as well as a conversion of its Okta refinery into a petroleum products hub facilitating distribution to the western Balkans.

December will be a crucial month for the negotiations between ELPE and North Macedonia as a verdict is scheduled to be delivered on an ELPE compensation request for 32 million dollars for a breach, by the neighboring country, of contractual obligations concerning minimum supply amounts between 2008 and 2011.

The North Macedonian oil market is dominated by two Russian companies, Gazprom and Lukoil, both gaining further ground. Gazprom supplies fuel products to North Macedonia via Serbia and Lukoil does so from Bulgaria.

US officials, seeking to inhibit the dominance of Russian energy firms in North Macedonia, have intervened to help resolve the country’s differences with ELPE.

Just days ago, a meeting on ELPE’s effort to reopen the oil pipeline was held in Thessaloniki during an official visit to the city by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. US government officials, Greece’s energy minister Costis Hatzidakis and North Macedonian government deputies participated.

For quite some time now, Washington has made clear its stance aiming to limit Europe’s energy dependence on Russian companies and, as a result, is promoting the ELPE oil pipeline as an alternative supply route into North Macedonia.

 

Balkans-focused energy forum on eve of Thessaloniki fair

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Two key regional gas pipeline projects involving Greece and backed by the US, the Greek-Bulgarian IGB gas grid interconnection and a pipeline to link Greece and North Macedonia, will be at the center of attention in talks between energy minister Costis Hatzidakis and peers at the Southeast Europe Energy Forum in Thessaloniki on September 6, a day ahead of the opening of this year’s Thessaloniki International Fair.

Hatzidakis and the US Ambassador to Greece, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, will be key speakers at the forum, where speeches will also be delivered by the energy ministers of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Israel, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia.

Besides the prospective gas pipeline from Greece to North Macedonia, the talks between Hatzidakis and his North Macedonian peer will also focus on an upgrade of the electricity grid interconnection linking the systems of the two countries, as well as an upcoming relaunch of the Okta oil pipeline, stretching from an ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum) facility in Thessaloniki to the company’s Okta refinery and storage facility in North Macedonia.

The gas pipeline is the most important project of the three as an interconnection of the Greek and North Macedonian gas systems does not exist.

The Greek-Bulgarian IGB gas interconnection, along with TAP, to carry Azeri natural gas through northern Greece, Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to central Europe via Italy, are Greece’s two most significant international energy projects.

They promise to further diversify Europe’s energy sources and weaken Russia’s dominance in the region.

Meanwhile, Russia is promoting its own energy and geopolitical interests in the region. Last month, Greece was excluded from Turkish Stream, a Russian-Turkish gas pipeline plan whose second segment is now planned to run through Bulgaria, not Greece.

The first segment of this gas pipeline project is planned to supply Russian natural gas to the Turkish market and the second to Europe’s south and southeast.

 

ELPE, seeing growth, to reopen northern pipeline late this year

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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.

ELPE plans to use its 350,000-metric ton storage facility, located 25 kilometers from the North Macedonian capital, as part of the export drive to regional markets.

The Greek petroleum group stopped operating this facility in 2013 after deciding it was no longer feasible to run.

A recent bilateral agreement between Greece and North Macedonia, until recently officially named Fyrom (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), has increased trading potential between the two countries and in the wider region.

ELPE controls 80 percent of its Okta venture in North Macedonia. The remaining stake is held locally. This equity balance will remain unchanged but Okta’s retail presence is expected to  increase.

Okta currently operates 27 petrol stations in North Macedonia. An exclusive partnership with Makpetrol, the neighboring country’s leading oil and oil products distributor running 121 petrol stations, promises to increase Okta’s share of retail fuel stemming from its refinery in North Macedonia to 65 percent.

 

ELPE oil pipeline from Thessaloniki to Fyrom seen reopening March

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An oil pipeline stretching 213 kilometers from Greek petroleum group  ELPE’s Thessaloniki facilities in the country’s north to its Okta company refinery across the northern border in Fyrom (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) is expected to reopen around March after the firm ceased using this channel in 2013, ruling it, at the time, as inefficient and unprofitable.

The ensuing road transportation of fuels has sharply increased costs and smuggling activity.

ELPE and Fyrom’s administration are ready for the oil pipeline’s reopening, sources have informed. However, constitutional changes concerning a bilateral agreement for Fyrom’s name change to the Republic of North Macedonia, requiring several rounds of voting in parliament, still need to be completed before oil quantities can be transported through this pipeline.

The ELPE group is currently using its Okta company refinery as a storage facility. Balkan regional growth experienced in recent years has rekindled the Greek petroleum firm’s interest in the Okta unit as a transit center for distribution of petroleum products in Fyrom and other countries in the region.

ELPE maintains a market presence in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Fyrom, operating over 200 petrol stations.

The Thessaloniki-Fyrom oil pipeline’s reopening is expected to significantly reduce fuel transportation costs to these markets.

 

ELPE firm OKTA, dominating Fyrom market, gets cost bonus and prize

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Gasoline retailer OKTA, a member of the ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum) group, has established itself as a dominant player in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Fyrom), where it stands as the neighboring country’s biggest gasoline supplier by far.

OKTA was ranked third, based on total turnover, in a list of Fyrom’s 200 biggest enterprises published by local economic news magazine Capital. OKTA’s total turnover reached 311 million euros, a 5.6 percent drop compared to the previous year.

The publication’s top-200 list includes seven more Greek or part-Greek enterprises.

Greece’s diplomatic mission in Fyrom is keeping a close watch on the country’s economic developments and other matters of interest to Greek enterprises interested in the neighbouring market. Athens is being updated on a regular basis.

Fyrom’s newly appointed government, embraced by the EU and USA, is keen to improve the country’s bilateral ties with Greece.

Part of this effort includes the implementation, as of January 1, of a delayed directive stretching back to 2009 concerning storage costs of required fuel reserves. Until now, these storage costs have been covered by petroleum firms without any compensation. Given its dominant market share, OKTA has shouldered a considerable part of this cost. Fyrom’s new administration has decided to implement the aforementioned directive, which will rid OKTA of the considerable storage costs it has been forced to cover.

OKTA was one of three Greek enterprises to receive a prize in an annual competition staged by Fyrom’s economy ministry in recognition of corporate social responsibility. The Greek petroleum firm received an award for its contribution to the country’s traffic education and road safety.