Cooperation with Saudi could shield India’s oil and gas assets against Pakistani threat | The Indian Express

Cooperation with Saudi could shield India’s oil and gas assets against Pakistani threat | The Indian Express

Written by Vikram S Mehta |Updated: October 7, 2019 10:03:47 am

The writer is the chairman of Brookings India and senior fellow, Brookings Institution.

Cooperation with Saudi could shield India’s oil and gas assets against Pakistani threat

Pakistan is heavily in debt to Saudi Arabia and it depends hugely on the kingdom’s largesse to avoid economic collapse. Saudi Arabia has consequently considerable leverage over Pakistan and the latter in turn cannot afford to ignore Saudi economic interests when war gaming an offensive strategy against India.

Pakistan is dependent on Saudi largesse to avoid economic collapse. It cannot afford to ignore the kingdom’s economic interests. (Illustration by C R Sasikumar)

Two unconnected “developments” and one “fact” lead me to suggest India should deepen its economic linkages with Saudi Arabia through interlocking cross country investments. The first development is the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil and gas infrastructure. The second is the muscular , albeit irresponsible, anti Indian diatribe by the Pakistani leadership. They have introduced the nuclear option in their language. The “fact” is the location of a substantial part of our petroleum assets on or offshore our Western coastline. In my view, when seen through a common lens, these three matters reveal a heightened security risk scenario for India but also offer a non-military option for mitigating the consequential outcome. Saudi Arabian investments in India’s petroleum infrastructure and vice versa lie at the core of this option .