Greece to Resume Iran’s Crude Oil Imports
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hellenic Petroleum, Greece's biggest oil refinery, has decided to restart crude oil purchases from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in the wake of the termination of anti-Tehran sanctions, a report said.
The decision came after Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia and his Greek counterpart Panos Skourletis met in Athens on Friday, Reuters reported.
The company is the first European refiner to restart trade relations with Iran after the lifting of the sanctions.
Under the deal between the two sides, the refiner will start buying oil from Iran immediately and will settle its multi-million euro outstanding debt to NIOC, Hellenic Petroleum said.
"The deal was achieved after consecutive meetings in Athens and Tehran," Hellenic Petroleum said. "The deal is beneficial for both sides."
After meeting Zamininia, Skourletis told Reuters Iran believed Greece could be a conduit for re-entering Europe's oil market.
"They (Iran) are positively disposed towards Greece and think that Greece can be the European conduit for them to re-enter the market," he said, adding that the two countries had traditionally enjoyed close relations.
"They (Iran) said that the debt (settlement) can open the way so that our cooperation is boosted," Skourletis said, adding that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was due to visit Iran early next month.
Iran used to sell as much as 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) to European refiners in Italy, Spain and Greece before the sanctions over its nuclear energy program were imposed.
Tehran ordered a 500,000-bpd increase in its oil output, of which 200,000 bpd will go to Europe, after the sanctions were lifted last week.
The agreement came a couple of days after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in a joint statement last Saturday announced the official start of implementation of the nuclear deal finalized by Tehran and world powers back in July 2015.
