Marcos: PH will continue search for non-traditional sources of petroleum products

President Bongbong Marcos today said the Philippines will continue to look for "non-traditional" sources of petroleum products even as the United States and Iran sign a deal to end their conflict.

Speaking to reporters in Kazan, Russia, President Marcos stated that "even if the war does come to an end, we, Philippines, will still continue to look for so-called non-traditional partners in terms of the supply of petroleum products."

Energy security was mentioned during President Marcos' bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and during the ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit held in Kazan, which Marcos and Putin co-chaired.

But the President said "there have been no firm agreements, but merely in, and understanding that we will continue to develop what we had already started as a response to the oil crisis that was the effect of the war in the Middle East, which we are hoping will come to an end soon."

Marcos also revealed that the Russian Federation was open to increasing its sale of petroleum products to the Philippines.

"The reason being is that what we have been doing with Russia in terms of providing oil products to the Philippines has been on a very ad hoc basis," the president stated.

"Because kung ano'ng – because noong pumutok ‘yung giyera, eh basta kung saan kayo makakuha, kung saan makakuha. Basta’t tingnan ninyo, basta’t kausapin niyo lahat. Maghanap tayo ng makukunan natin ng petroleum products. One of those places was Russia," he explained.

(Because if what – because when the war broke out, wherever you can get it, wherever you can get it. Just look, just talk to everyone. Let's find a place where we can get petroleum products. One of those places was Russia.)

The President revealed that the Philippines is starting to put a system in place for this and that "it will be very good for the Philippines to have another assured lifeline when it comes to petroleum products."

When asked if this will mean that the Philippines will regularly source petroleum products from Russia, Marcos replied that this is yet to be decided.

"There are many complications to that. It is not that simple as signing a trade agreement. There are, of course, political considerations, geopolitical considerations," the President said.

"But when two parties are determined to make it work, I'm always very confident that it will work and we will find a way around those challenges and those complications so that we make it a reality," he added. — BAP, GMA News