A possible purchase of petroleum products from Russia is a good idea but Energy Undersecretary Gerardo Erguiza Jr. raised "operational and diplomatic concerns".

"It is a good idea but we know that Russia does not release their crude. I just wanted to say that as early as 2017, we have a correlation with Russia. The DOE signed that. President Duterte encouraged the 'Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Cooperation,' Erguiza said during the "Laging Handa" public briefing on Monday.

"I also want to say that about two years ago Russia actually made an offer and it has a proposed contract and based on their system, if we are going to purchase their crude, a deposit should be made by the Philippine government," he added.

Erguiza said operational concerns include availability of budget and government's lack of distribution mechanism.

"The procurement needs to be government-to-government but there should be an available budget and you know our budget, one to two years before it will be approved and if you do not have money you cannot buy and our government cannot order the private sector to buy from them. We know that under the Oil Deregulation Law, the industry is under the private sector and their contract is long term," he said.

"Assuming that the government will purchase, it doesn't have a mechanism to distribute. The oil company that was previously owned by the government which is Petron is in the private sector so if we will acquire it, we cannot distribute that especially in retail," he added.

Erguiza also noted there are diplomatic concerns because of the international crisis due to Russia's conflict with Ukraine if the Philippines decides to buy oil from Russia.

"We know that in the community of nations, the Philippines is aligned with countries like the US, in Europe, that are very critical in exerting sanctions against Russia because of the alleged invasion. So when the Philippines does that, of course, they will call the attention of the Philippines. So, we will really have diplomatic concerns here," he said. Robina Asido/DMS