Russia's Rosneft, Greece's Hellenic Petroleum sign agreement on oil supplies to Greece

The signing ceremony was held after the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and in their presence.

Apart from that, the sides signed a number of other documents.

The agreement will bring cooperation with the Greek partners to a new level as it lays the basis for direct contracts with Hellenic Petroleum on supplies of oil and oil products to Greek refineries, Rosneft said in a release. Apart from that, the agreement gives Rosneft a possibility to realize oil products manufactured at Hellenic Petroleum's oil refineries for bunkering and trading.

The agreement will make it possible for Rosneft to raise economic efficiency of sales of oil and oil products and offer its partner more attractive prices and flexible supplies formats.

"These agreements open up wide perspectives for further development of cooperation with Hellenic Petroleum," Rosneft President Igor Sechin said. "Along with creating an extra channel of product sales, potential direct contracts will help us strengthen positions of Rosneft's trading division. The Greek partners, in turn, will have a guaranteed channel of supplies of high-quality energy sources at competitive prices."

Hellenic Petroleum is one of Greece's biggest corporations. Aggregate capacity of its plants in Greece (in Aspropyrgos, Eleusis and Thessaloniki) is 17 million tons, or about 65% of the country's entire oil refining output.

Imported oil accounts for 100% of Greece's consumption. The country however exports oil products (15.5 million tons of exports and 3.6 million tons of imports in 2014, according to Erostat) thanks to a diversified oil refinery system, primarily at Hellenic Petroleum facilities. Thus, direct contacts with that company will help Rosneft enhance its positions on international markets.

Kazinform refers to TASS