Baku, January 25, AZERTAC

Greece's biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum agreed on Friday to buy crude oil from the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the first European refiner to restart trade relations with Iran after the lifting of international sanctions, according to Reuters.

Hellenic Petroleum was a major buyer of Iranian crude, which accounted for about 20 percent of the southeast European country's annual crude oil imports before sanctions were imposed on Tehran in 2011.

The agreement came after Iran's Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia and his Greek counterpart Panos Skourletis met in Athens on Friday.

The two ministers also attended talks between executives from Hellenic Petroleum and NIOC, a meeting reported by Reuters on Jan. 18.

Under the deal, the refiner will start buying oil from Iran immediately and will settle its multi-million euro outstanding debt to NIOC, Hellenic Petroleum said in a bourse filing.