Oct. 7--The government plans to revive talks with petroleum-rich Russia in a bid to diversify the country's sources of oil, which mainly comes from the Middle East.

Based on the new Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) 2007 to 2014, the government is considering an "energy experts' meeting" to discuss possible areas of cooperation between the Philippines and Russia, the second-largest exporter of oil estimated to hold up to 60 billion barrels of oil reserves.

Russia also has the world's largest natural gas and coal reserves estimated at 1,680 trillion cubic feet and 173 billion tons, respectively.

The government had approached Russia in 2002, aiming to source from it 10 percent of the country's crude requirements. The Philippines imports more than 90 percent of its oil requirements from Middle East countries.

"The intention is to resume negotiations," the PEP said.

Besides the possible supply of the country's oil requirements, the PEP has also proposed a possible partnership for the establishment of an oil refinery and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities as well as the conduct of joint exploration and production in the upstream oil industry.

The Philippines currently has only two oil refineries--the 180,000-barrels-a-day refinery of state-owned Petron Corp. in Bataan and the 110,000-barrels-a-day facility of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.'s in Batangas.

On the other hand, the lack of natural gas facilities such as receiving terminals and gas pipelines has hampered the transport sector from taking full advantage of the alternative fuel.

The government is eyeing to promote the use of such relatively cheaper and cleaner fuel and indigenous energy sources to cut the country's reliance on expensive oil imports.

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