Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in a meeting with Sri Lankan Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiyutheen underlined Tehrans readiness to further develop relations and cooperation with Colombo in different fields.The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully ready for supporting and evermore expansion of comprehensive cooperation with Sri Lanka, particularly in political, economic, commercial, transit, and joint investments fields, Salehi said in Tehran on Monday.
Bathiyutheen, for his part, appreciated the Iranian officials for their assistance in the process of his countrys development, and expressed the hope that the level of commercial and economic cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran, particularly in energy field, would increase.
Sri Lankas Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) does not plan to replace Iran as the main supplier of its crude oil imports, media reports said in October.
CPC has no immediate plans to tie up a new term import contract to replace Iranian crude as it awaits greater clarity on the Iran situation. It will instead seek regular imports of 135,000 metric tons cargoes for delivery every 20 days to meet its refinerys requirements, Platts news website quoted a source close to the company as saying at the time.
The CPC said that it plans to start sourcing all its crude requirements from the spot market after its regular supply from Iran was cut, the source added.
Iran is the second largest OPEC oil producer, producing about 4 million barrels of oil a day. The countrys recoverable oil reserves are estimated at more than 137 billion barrels, or 12 per cent of the worlds overall reserves.
By The Nation
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