North Macedonia and Serbia have formally become members of the Vertical Gas Corridor, strengthening the network’s reach into the Western Balkans and broadening options for diversifying natural gas supplies in the region. The move was formalized through a memorandum of understanding signed by regional gas transmission system operators on the sidelines of the Southeast Europe Energy Forum in Thessaloniki, according to North Macedonia’s Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources. The corridor’s existing participants, including Greece’s DESFA, welcomed the inclusion of North Macedonia’s NOMAGAS and Serbia’s Transportgas Serbia.
Membership in the Vertical Gas Corridor is particularly important for North Macedonia as it will allow the country to integrate more closely into the regional gas infrastructure and gain access to supplies from the south, including through Greece’s gas transmission system. North Macedonia’s Minister of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources, Sanja Bozhinovska, said one of the key elements of this strategy is the gas interconnector being built between North Macedonia and Greece. North Macedonia’s accession comes as the Vertical Gas Corridor is expanding into a broader energy route designed to connect southern Europe with Central and Eastern Europe while also increasing supply options for Western Balkan countries.
North Macedonia’s prospects for connecting to the Southern Gas Corridor are also of particular interest in terms of the country’s energy cooperation with Azerbaijan. As part of its long-term strategy, North Macedonia plans to secure natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan and use the resource in its national energy plans. Goran Nikolovski, head of the gas sector at North Macedonia’s Ministry of Energy, Mining and Mineral Resources, told Trend in March that supplies of Azerbaijani gas would allow the country to cover base and peak loads while also providing greater flexibility for electricity generation from renewable energy sources.
We are seeking to balance electricity generation through gas supplies from Azerbaijan. This balance is particularly important at night and during periods when energy production is low,” he said. According to Nikolovski, progress has already been made in energy cooperation between the two countries.
Working groups have been established with relevant Azerbaijani institutions, and a new memorandum is expected to be signed that could serve as the basis for a broader cooperation agreement once gas projects in North Macedonia are completed. At the same time, gas cooperation between Azerbaijan and North Macedonia has already moved beyond the stage of long-term plans. According to information previously obtained by Trend from an informed source, Azerbaijani natural gas has been supplied to household and industrial consumers in North Macedonia since December 1, 2025.
The source said the supplies were organized through cooperation between SOCAR, M-Gaz and CNG Systems. The project represents a pilot expansion of the virtual gasification initiative that has been implemented in Bulgaria since 2024. How North Macedonia Is Connecting to the Regional Gas Network North Macedonia’s accession to the Vertical Gas Corridor does not involve the construction of a single new gas pipeline.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
