AI data centres, financial hubs and tourism are not peripheral to the Gulf’s growth; they are central to both opportunity and vulnerability
The episodic risks in the oil and gas industry led to a conventional playbook for navigating crises. Gulf producers maintain strategic reserves, redundant export routes and rapid repair capabilities. Strong sovereign balance sheets also provide additional shock absorbers. Over time, markets adapted and temporary disruption became part of the pricing model for an energy-dependent region.
Even the renewed targeting of traditional oil and gas infrastructure no longer only risks depriving external markets of energy sources. Rather, it threatens the backbone that provides the Gulf’s artificial intelligence ambitions with a critical competitive advantage of cheap, abundant and reliable power.
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Source: News - South China Morning Post
