Manila: A large rebel group engaged in peace talks with the Philippines government since 1997 has opposed offshore oil exploration by a private firm in the south and southwestern Philippines saying Muslim residents of the region were being denied the economic benefits, a rebel website said.

During peace negotiations held between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Malaysia from June 2 to 3, "the MILF took the opportunity to register its opposition to the ongoing oil explorations in the Sulu Sea and in off Palawan", Luwaran.com quoted Attorney Abdul Dataya and Abdullah Camlian as saying.

The oil exploration in these areas has not benefited Muslims living closest to the oil exploration sites, said Dataya and Camlian, both MILF peace panel members who represented the group's stand on oil exploration being undertaken off Liguasan Marsh and off Palawan respectively.

Assurance sought

The MILF wanted "a clear assurance" that the Philippine National Oil Company Exploration (PNOC-EC) is not digging for more oil wells, but is "purely plugging" two oil wells that were abandoned in Liguasan Marsh, Sultan sa Barongis, Dataya said.

In response, the government gave the assurance that PNOC-EC is plugging and sealing two oil wells in the Sultan Sa Barongis area because these oil wells could not produce oil reserves in commercially viable quantities.

The 288,000-hectare Liguasan Marsh is in Maguindanao province, a part of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

"It is the only remaining frontier that was not taken over by non-Muslim migrants from northern Luzon and Visayas, central Philippines," Dataya said.

The MILF also alleged that powerful people close to the administration of President Gloria Arroyo had continued oil exploration projects off Palawan.

PNOC-EC is selling 1.5 billion primary and 600 million secondary shares, based on the productivity of oil wells off Palawan, sources said.

Earlier, in 2005, the department of energy put the country's total energy reserves at a total of 456 million barrels of oil based on 16 sedimentary basins situated from Cagayan Valley in the north to the Agusan-Davao Basin in the south, including Northwest Palawan Basin and the Sulu Sea Basin in the southwestern part of the country.

Contracts

The government has awarded contracts to several oil exploration companies to explore areas with potential petroleum reserves.

In comparison, neighbouring Vietnam had 600 million barrels of oil reserves as of 2007; Thailand had 290 million barrels of proven oil reserves; and Malaysia had 3 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the Oil and Gas Journal said.

The 12,000-strong MILF has waged an armed struggle for the establishment of an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines since 1978.

Since the Philippine government and the MILF started holding peace talks in 1997, the rebels have been exploring the possibility of a greater administrative role and a bigger share of economic earnings (from the national government) in the ancestral domain of Muslims in the south.