Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 18
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran and Sri Lanka have held a new round of negotiations on cooperation in Sri Lankan upstream oil industry, Mansour Bazmi, deputy head of Iran’s Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, said.
The talks were held during the visit of Susil Premajayantha, Sri Lankan minister of science, technology and research, to the Iranian institute, Bazmi said, Mehr news agency reported.
Sri Lanka is interested to deploy Iran’s oil exploration technology in the Indian Ocean, he said.
The Asian country is after transfer of science and technology of Iran to Sri Lanka in areas of exploring and refining oil, Bazmi added.
Bazmi further forecast that the sides would sign a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in various sectors in the near future.
Premajayantha announced during a meeting with Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif in Tehran Jan. 15 that Sri Lanka is interested to resume import of crude oil and oil products from Iran.
He expressed hope that the two countries’ energy cooperation would be boosted after settling the “remaining financial obstacles.”
Iran hasn’t resumed oil export to Sri Lanka due to banking problems despite almost one year has passed since the sanctions on Iran were eliminated.
A dispute over a huge unpaid oil bill due to Iran by Sri Lanka remains unresolved as well.