Sri Lanka is interested in purchasing oil and related products from the Islamic Republic of Iran, after resolving the outstanding financial issues between the two countries pertaining to previous purchases, Daily Mirror reported.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Science, Technology and Research, Susil Premajayantha, expressed hope that energy relations between Sri Lanka and Iran would expand now that the sanctions against Iran have been removed. His comments came during a visit to Tehran to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad, Javad Zarif, who described the meeting as important to expansion of Iran’s relations with Asian countries including Sri Lank, according to Press TV.

Sri Lanka was dependent almost entirely on Iran for its crude oil supplies before halting imports in what appears to have been a result of US-led sanctions over the past few years. Before the sanctions, the Asian country bought almost all of the 50,000b/d of oil from Iran. Sri Lanka’s only refinery, the Sapugaskanda plant, is configured to run on Iranian light crude. Yet, the sanctions had left Sri Lanka struggling, with its sole refinery facing shutdown from time to time amid shortfalls in the absence of Iranian crude.