Pakistan-Saudi Arabia mutual defense pact: News & Discussion

[Dalit]

Considering what has happened over the last 4 months and UAE’s exit from OPEC, as well as UAE and India’s desire to build an undersea pipeline via Oman and Pakistan’s EEZ to transport oil or gas to India, Pakistan should propose a pipeline from Saudi via Oman to Pakistan and then onwards to India to undercut UAE’s plan.

Getting Saudi petrochemicals out of the two choke points and securely to the two closest and growing markets while getting Oman on board to not build the UAE pipeline would go a long way to not letting UAE leaving OPEC undercut Saudi financial plans.

A modern refinery on the Pakistani coast, most probably near Karachi (near the electrical grid and labor force and other potential industrial parks) could help Pakistan utilize this Saudi resource and bring opportunities for both nations.

Pakistan could also reserve an industrial area near a port to house Saudi crude oil and petrochemical products for re-export to other markets.

I wasn't even aware of this pipeline.

The Route and Pakistan's EEZ​

The planned pipeline corridor stretches roughly 2,000 kilometers from the coast of Oman (and potentially connecting back into the wider Gulf/UAE network) directly to the coast of Gujarat, India.

The core motivation behind the deep-sea pipeline is simple: to bypass land routes entirely. India’s previous overland pipeline attempts—such as the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) "Peace Pipeline" and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline—continually collided with geopolitical hurdles, regional instability, and security concerns. Bypassing the land route by dropping thousands of meters under the Arabian Sea offers a way to establish a continuous "Common Carrier" energy corridor.

To find the shortest and most geologically stable path across the Arabian Sea, the pipeline's path intersects portions of Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Under international maritime law, specifically the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the rules for this are distinct:

• The Right to Lay Pipelines: UNCLOS Article 79 stipulates that all states are entitled to lay submarine cables and pipelines on the continental shelf and through the EEZ of other states. The coastal state (in this case, Pakistan) cannot entirely prohibit the laying or maintenance of such a pipeline.
• The Caveat of Consent: While the coastal state cannot flatly refuse the pipeline itself, the delineation of the specific path (the routing) is subject to its consent. Furthermore, the coastal state retains jurisdiction over activities like environmental impact assessments, potential pollution prevention, and drilling.

To mitigate potential diplomatic or transit friction, SAGE's routing studies have focused on navigating the deep-sea bed as far south as possible, balancing the legal realities of UNCLOS with a desire to keep the pipeline free from third-country political leverage.

Unprecedented Technical Hurdles​

While the deep-sea route solves land-based political blockades, it trades them for some of the most daunting engineering challenges in the world:

• Extreme Depth and Pressure: The pipeline is projected to sit at depths reaching 3,450 to 3,500 meters below sea level. At these depths, the water pressure is immense, requiring highly specialized heavy-walled steel pipe manufacturing, specialized anti-corrosion coatings, and cutting-edge deep-water welding.
• Geological Hazards: The seabed path must cross volatile underwater topography, specifically the Owen Fracture Zone (a seismically active fault line) and the complex, shifting underwater canyon networks of the Indus Fan (sediment run-offs from the Indus River).
• Maintenance and Intervention: If an onshore pipeline leaks, a repair crew is dispatched. If a pipeline cracks 3.5 kilometers underwater, repairs require highly advanced, deep-sea remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and dedicated subsea intervention vessels. A major repair could take weeks or months, posing a significant risk to continuous supply stability.

Current Status​

While the concept has existed for nearly two decades, the project has transitioned from a long-term aspiration into an active strategic evaluation.

The consortium (which involves Indian public sector undertakings like GAIL, Engineers India Limited, and Indian Oil Corporation) has commissioned updated engineering and feasibility studies to explore expanding the corridor's utility. These recent evaluations are investigating the technical feasibility of running deep-water oil pipelines along the same corridor in addition to natural gas, attempting to hedge against volatile global shipping lanes and secure India's long-term energy architecture.
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India can keep dreaming of passing this pipeline through Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).