Ongoing negotiations between ELPE (Hellenic Petroleum) and Iranian state-run oil company NIOC are headed towards a deal, energypress sources have informed, as Iran prepares to resume international trade in anticipation of the end of western-imposed oil and financial sanctions early next year.

The fundamentals for an agreement between the two companies pre-exist as a result of a long-running trading partnership between ELPE and the Iranian company that dates back to long before the west imposed sanctions on Iran in 2012.

Talks between the two sides concerning crude quantities to be ordered, as well as supply and payment conditions, are believed to have progressed.

The two companies have also extensively discussed the prospect of ELPE offering Iran technical knowhow through the Greek corporate group’s subsidiary firm Asproforos.

ELPE is aiming to reach a deal that will secure a steady supply of Iranian crude, ideally suited to the Greek company’s refineries, accompanied by favorable payback terms for debt owed by the Greek company to NIOC. The figure exceeds 500 million euros and concerns trading activity conducted before the arrival of the sanctions.

Prior to the sanctions, ELPE and fellow Greek company Motor Oil were ordering an average of 100,000 barrels of crude per day, in total, an amount representing one-third of Greek crude imports.

Based on an accord signed last July between world powers and Iran, sanctions will most probably be lifted within the first three months of 2016 in return for restrictions on nuclear work by Iran.