Restarting OKTA After More Than 13 Years: The Government Wants a Check, but the Statements Give No Cost, No Deadline and No Diesel Output
On October 15 Mickoski said a task has been given to re-examine restarting the refinery, while Minister Bozhinovska says the idea is “at an early stage.”
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said at a press conference on October 15 that a task has been given to “re-examine the possibility” of restarting the OKTA refinery in Miladinovci, which according to him has not operated since 2012 (Nezavisen Vesnik says Hellenic Petroleum halted it in January 2013). He cited the pipeline to Thessaloniki, which now works, through which crude could be brought in and processed into diesel. An assessment of the plant’s condition is under way, and Mickoski expects an answer from OKTA management on whether and when it could start working.
Energy Minister Sanja Bozhinovska said supply of oil and derivatives is stable, that traders hold five-day reserves and that the restart is “at an early stage,” requiring a detailed technical analysis with all the numbers. Neither of them said how much a restart would cost, how much crude would be processed or how much diesel would come out. The plant, founded in 1978, has a nominal capacity of 2.5 million tons of crude a year, its best result was 1.36 million tons in 1988, and before closing it processed about 0.5–1 million tons a year.
How much diesel it would give is also open: OKTA used simple technology without secondary units, so heavy fuel oil was 35–40% of output, ahead of diesel and gasoline, according to Nezavisen Vesnik. Hellenic stopped production because importing finished diesel from Thessaloniki was more profitable. Mickoski says traders told him there will be no shortage until the end of the year, that the state will keep its low-price policy and that fuel is half a euro a liter cheaper than in most neighboring countries. These are his claims.
MKNews Hub · Macedonia · October 16, 2026
