Why Biden visited Saudi Arabia?

In international politics there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. After all, only the interest of the state matters. It was because of this reason that US President Joe Biden, despite promising to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” state in his election campaign, visited Saudi Arabia last weekend over the killing of journalist Jamal Khasogji. His visit was a part of his tour to the Middle East that earlier took him to Israel and Occupied Palestine.

But unlike the past, the issue of Palestine was merely relegated to discussions during the US President’s visit. There was no fresh proposal or effort to restart dialogue for a two-state solution. Instead Biden’s discussion with Israeli leaders focused on how to punish Iran if it seeks to develop nuclear weapons and how to persuade the Arab world to embrace the Jewish state without the resolution of the lingering Palestinian conflict. The Arab world too has largely accepted the new reality and is increasingly looking to establish ties with Israel. In 2020, as part of the Abraham Accord, UAE, Morocco and Sudan recognised Israel.

There were reports that Saudi Arabia too would join these countries but Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz made it clear that this would not happen even in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia and Israel have been talking to each other, often quietly, to establish a working relationship. On the eve of Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Riyadh allowed Israel to use its air space — a major announcement made possible only after years of secret talks brokered by Washington between Riyadh and Tel Aviv. In another sign of a shift in attitude of the Gulf states towards Israel, Biden became the first US President who flew directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia. In Jeddah, Biden attended the summit meeting of leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to discuss a range of issues including denying Russia and China any foothold in the oil rich region.

Despite facing criticism even from his own Democratic Party leaders, Biden went ahead with the visit to reset US’s relationship with Riyadh.

The first reason why Biden visited Saudi Arabia and met other oil rich Arab leaders was because of the soaring fuel prices in the US as well as other parts of the world as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Biden hoped to get assurance from Saudi Arabia, a leader of OPEC Plus countries, to increase oil production to offset the negative fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The second purpose of the visit was to regain a foothold in the Middle East as Russia and China have made strides in the region in the absence of US engagement.

As Biden visits the country, Saudi Arabia as per reports has doubled the import of oil from Russia at discounted rates in order to run its power stations. The news was surprising for many given that Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of oil in the world. Saudi Arabia imported 647,000 tonnes of Russian oil from April to June, according to data reviewed by Reuters. Saudi Arabia took possession of oil from Russian and Estonian ports, and has thus far imported 320,000 more barrels from Russia compared to 2021 levels. The imports also allow the Kingdom to free up their own oil exports and reap profits from record-high prices in the international market. Some of the Russian fuel also made its way to Saudi Arabia through Egypt, accounting for some of the 110,000 barrels per day imported from Egypt in June. Meanwhile, Egypt imported 70,000 barrels per day from Russia in June, according to Reuters.

India has also significantly increased oil imports from Russia despite strong opposition from the US. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, we are only debating the issue of whether we can import oil from Russia at discounted rates and whether we have the capacity to refine Russian crude oil.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2022.

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