Greece to Pay Oil Debts on Installments

Date: 21 October 2016 - 19:50

News ID: ۳۲۴۹۴

TEHRAN (MNA) – Deputy oil minister has announced that the Greeks will clear all oil debts to Iran within an installment-payment plan in a period of two years.
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Amir Hossein Zamaninia described the new agreement between Iran and Greece over collection of oil revenues saying "final agreement has been reached on the venue for retiring Greece’s oil debt to Iran.”
"Several rounds of talks have been conducted between Iranian and Greek officials in Tehran and Athens,” underlined the official noting that Greece has agreed to settle its oil debts to Iran over two years.”
He also noted that sales of Iranian crude oil to the European country have been resumed as currently a daily average of 60 thousand barrels per day are shipped to Greece.
In response to a question on credit sales of oil to Hellenic Petroleum company as Greece’s largest refinery, Zamaninia asserted "in accordance with terms of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), all oil sales to foreign parties are carried out in cash.”
Deputy oil minister of Iran had previously maintained that Hellenic Petroleum’s amount of debt to be 900 million euros; "Greek oil officials will make a visit to Tehran in order to finalize the cooperation agreements between Iran and Greece,” he had highlighted.
In the years 2010 to 2012, Greece had paid about 5 to 6 billion dollars for the purchase of Iranian oil, but the halt in imports from Iran due to international sanctions as well as the stoppage in Libya’s oil production in the same period, had forced Greek companies to increase oil purchase from Russia and Kazakhstan.