A senior delegation from Russia led by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak is due in Tehran for high-level energy talks with Iranian officials, says a report by Iranian Oil Ministry’s news service Shana.

Shana’s Tuesday report said Novak will arrive in Tehran later in the day to attend a joint economic and energy forum planned for Wednesday.

The report said the meeting will focus on energy cooperation issues between the two countries.

“Iran and Russia have high potentials in terms of oil and gas reserves and also because of their geopolitical position and they can change the equations of the global economy, especially in the energy sector, through their cooperation,” said the report.

The report indicated that Novak can sign major energy cooperation deals with Iranian officials during his visit to Tehran.

It pointed to initial agreements reached between Iran and Russia during a January trip to Moscow by Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji.

The report said the two countries had agreed to cooperate on projects in the upstream and downstream of their oil and gas sectors during Owji’s visit, including on development of oil and gas fields and on the expansion of refineries and petrochemical plants.

It added that Iran’s oil and gas sector has a strategic need to receive Russian technology and equipment.

Statements by Iranian and Russian authorities in recent months suggest the two countries have become more interested in joint oil and gas projects since Russia’s energy sector came under a series of Western sanctions because of the military conflict in Ukraine.

Iran has been coping with a similar set of American sanctions on its crude oil exports since 2018 when Washington pulled out of an international agreement on the country’s nuclear program.