Greece’s Hellenic Petroleum will purchase 60,000–150,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran, deputy oil minister for international affairs said on Saturday.
“The Greek refiner will buy 60,000 barrels of oil each day from Iran … The volume can reach 150,000 bpd,” Amir-Hossein Zamaninia was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Zamaninia said the agreement was reached between Iran and Greece during the recent visit of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to Tehran.
The official stressed that Iran is pursuing the repayment process of the company’s debt that were blocked due to sanctions.
Earlier this month, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the Persian Gulf country is opening a bank account, through which oil and gas companies will settle their outstanding oil debts to the Persian Gulf country.
“Hellenic Petroleum is ready to restart oil purchases from Iran as soon as banking problems are alleviated,” he said.
Roughly a week after sanctions were lifted on Jan. 16, Hellenic Petroleum said it signed a deal to resume the import of Iran's crude.
Hellenic Petroleum is one of the largest oil companies in the Balkans and the largest Greek refiner, with its roots dating to 1958 with the establishment of the first oil refinery in Greece.
It operates three refineries in Greece, in Thessaloniki, Elefsina and Aspropyrgos, and one in Skopje in Macedonia, the OKTA refinery.
