Next Tuesday, a years long agreement with the Greek Hellenic Petroleum company expires and their Macedonian based Okta company will no longer be able to directly influence the gasoline prices.

The Energy Regulatory Committee (RKE) is moving to prepare a new regulation, but it is unclear whether it will be in place before Tuesday, after President Ivanov refused to approve a draft law on the energy market. This means that Macedonia may experience a rare period of freely set gas prices.

Hellenic Petroleum owns the now largely defunct Okta refinery near Skopje, and with it it bought the rights to influence gas prices across the country. Retailers are demanding that RKE allows them to increase their cut of the sales, while RKE is mindful of the dangers to the popularity of the Government if, under the new regime, prices shoot higher.