KAZAN, Russia — The Philippines has yet to finalize an oil importation deal with Russia due to “many considerations” including “geopolitical considerations,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday after his 2-day trip here.
The possible oil supply deal between the Philippines and Russia “has yet to be decided,” Marcos Jr. told reporters here.
“There are many complications to that. It is not that simple, a signing a trade agreement,” the President said.
“There are, of course, political considerations – geopolitical considerations,” he 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 said.
The United States, the European Union and Singapore are among the global powers that have imposed economic sanctions and trade restrictions against Russia after Russian troops invaded parts of Ukraine in early 2022.
While Marcos did not elaborate on the “geopolitical considerations” that he was referring to, the Philippine President admitted that there is “certainly a concern” about perceptions that Manila may be indirectly funding Moscow’s war with Kyiv should it pursue deeper economic ties with the Eurasian giant.
“The Philippines is one of the — if not the greatest — sponsor, supporter for peace not only in the region but in the world,” he said.
Being an indirect supporter of war “is not something we would like to be accused of,” he said.
“We will just have to be very careful to make sure that we are not inadvertently becoming part of the system that supports war in any way.”
The Philippines has been dealing with Russia on an ad hoc basis, but is working to put a concrete system for the importation of petroleum products from Europe’s most oil-rich country, Marcos said.
“There have been no firm agreements, but merely an 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,” he said.
“I can say that President Putin, the Russian Federation's was very open to any kind of suggestion that we do increase that engagement and that we look further into supplying, getting our supplies of petroleum products from Russia,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Philippines sourced 1.5 million barrels of crude oil from Russia after the United States imposed a 30-day moratorium on the purchase of Russian petroleum products after the war between US-Iraeli and Iranian forces prompted the closure of the Strait of Hormuz where 20 percent of the world’s oil supply passes through.
The Philippines is now “just responding, adjusting to the new reality” where countries “no longer subscribes to a bipolar world where you have to choose one side over the other,” Marcos said, when asked what prompted Manila to forge closer ties with Moscow despite its traditional alliance with Washington.
“During this summit, there was a lot of talk about multipolarity… the multipolar world that we now have to deal with, which may be a little bit more complex, but it also provides more opportunities than we had before,” the Philippine President said.