Assurance made during discussion with President-elect Marcos Jr.
(Eagle News) – The Russian government will help the Philippines in its oil and energy needs, the Russian ambassador to the Philippines assured on Monday, June 13.
In his remarks after his courtesy call on President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Russian ambassador Marat Pavlov said that his government would help the Philippines during this time of energy crisis.
Russia is one of the top oil producers in the world.
Ambassador Pavlov said the Russian government is ready to extend their “helping hands” to satisfy the energy needs of the country.
Pavlov said this was also one of the points of discussion he had with President-elect Marcos.
-Russian President Putin congratulates Marcos Jr., for election win-
The ambassador also reiterated the greetings of Russian president Vladimir Putin to Marcos Jr., for his landslide victory in the May 9, 2022 elections.
“I transmitted once again the congratulations of my president, President Putin,” he said in a press briefing after his meeting with President-elect Marcos Jr.
“We are ready to cooperate with the Filipino side, and to extend our helping hands to satisfy the needs in sources of energy, and we decided to continue our discussion,” Ambassador Pavlov said.
“The Russian Federation will help the Philippines in much needed oil, gas and other sources of energy,” he said.
-Russia has world’s largest gas reserves-
According to a fact sheet of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Russia has the world’s largest gas reserves. It is also the world’s second-largest producer of natural gas after the United States.
Before the Russia-Ukraine crisis, Russia was the world’s largest gas exporter.
“In 2021 the country (Russia) produced 762 bcm of natural gas, and exported approximately 210 bcm via pipeline,” the IEA said.
“Gazprom and Novatek are Russia’s main gas producers, but many Russian oil companies, including Rosneft, also operate gas production facilities,” it said.
The state-owned Gazprom is also the largest gas producer. Even with its share of production declining over the past decade as Russian companies Novatek and Rosneft expanded production capacity, the Russian state-owned Gazprom still accounted for 68 percent of Russian gas production last year.
“Russia has extensive crude export pipeline capacity, allowing it to ship large volumes of crude directly to Europe as well as Asia,” according to the IEA fact sheet.
-EU, US ban on Russian oil and gas-
Because of Russia’s military actions in Ukraine, European Union leaders have agreed on May 30 this year to ban more than two-thirds of Russian oil imports as part of a sixth package of sanctions on Moscow.
Britain has also announced plans to phase out Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 and to eventually stop importing Russian gas.
The United States has also banned Russian oil and gas days after Russia’s “special military operations” in Ukraine that began on February 24.
-OPEC plus to raise production output-
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and OPEC plus countries which include Russia have decided to add 648,000 barrels per day to the market in July, up from 432,000 in previous months. The OPEC plus announced this after monthly videoconference meetings that lasted about an hour on June 2.
“The meeting highlighted the importance of stable and balanced markets for both crude oil and refined products,” the cartel said in a statement.
The OPEC member countries as of 2019 are the following: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates(UAE), Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Congo, Angola, Ecuador and Venezuela.
The non-OPEC countries which export crude oil are termed as OPEC plus countries. These include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.
(Eagle News Service)
