| ID | 136815 |
| Title Proper | Threats to Gulf energy |
| Other Title Information | implications for India |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Pasha, A K |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | The Persian Gulf region has 63 percent of OIL and 39 percent of gas reserves globally. 45 percent of OECD oil is from the Gulf and the USA imports 60 percent from the Gulf. In 2003 oil exports from Gulf were 705 million tones. Oil production/ reserves outside Gulf are declining. At current rates of production, Gulf oil is likely to last at least for the next 50 years. Besides the Gulf region, the entire West Asia and North Africa also has substantial oil and gas resources. Due to this, the region has become the focus of attention especially of the USA. Oil was an important reason for US invasion of Iraq, in view of mounting threats from Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. This has led to growth of religious groups which are opposing regimes allied to West especially in the GCC, using terrorism to destroy oil facilities. The unresolved Arab-Israeli conflict and continued Palestinian sufferings has further aggravated this issue. Escalating US-Israeli threats to Iran, disintegration of Somalia, uncertainty in Yemen so on has led to growing maritime security threats. Thus, lack of democracy and related instability, religious extremism, terrorism, sectarianism, border disputes, human rights violations, besides the above reasons are the emerging threats. India imports over 70 % of oil needs and bulk of it comes from Gulf. There are nearly 5 million Indians in GCC states working and sending over $20 billion as remittances, Indo-GCC TRADE is of the order over $100 billion and from investment point of view GCC is important. At the same time, India has been affected by the oil shocks—at least six times in the last 35 years. The paper apart from highlighting the above issues will also discuss what measures need to be adopted to ensure India’s energy security. |
| `In' analytical Note | World Focus Vol.36, No.1; Jan.2015: p.3-19 |
| Journal Source | World Focus 2015-01 36, 1 |
| Standard Number | Threats |