Sri Lanka was dependent almost entirely on Iran for its crude oil supplies before haltingimports under US pressures in 2012.
Javadi said Iran is ready to resume sales when sanctions are lifted on the Islamic Republic in early 2016. Irans oil negotiations have started with Sri Lanka, the Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.
He said numerous talks have been held with Sri Land and other traditional oil customers over the past few months to resume Iran's exports.
All the countries are serious about purchasing crude oil from Iran, he said, adding we believe we will have suitable conditions.
Javadi, however, stated that resuming exports to traditional clients will be time-consuming, Mehr reported.
Sri Lanka has been importing oil from Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAEsince sanctions were imposed on Iran.
Before the sanctions, the Asian country bought almost all of the 50,000 barrels of oil which it needs per day from Iran. Sri Lankas only refinery, the Sapugaskanda plant, is configured to run on Iranian light crude.
US sanctions haveleft Sri Lanka struggling, with its solerefinery facingshutdown from time to time amid shortfalls in the absence of Iranian crude.
According to officials, the facilitys switch to processing alternative crudes has reduced the yield. For instance, processed products from Oman light and Murban crude of Abu Dhabihave been 20% lower than those from Iran light.
Saudi Arabia's light has also higher sulfur content than the Iranian grade.
According to Sri Lankan Petroleum Minister Susil Premajayantha, every 5,000 metric tons of Iran light yielded 1,250 tons of gasoline and 1,200 tons of gasoil. This ratio worked out to drop to 600 metric tons of gasoline and 1,400 tons of gasoil when Saudi light was used.
By Press TV
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