Punjab, Sept. 14 -- India's energy problem got structurally worse over the weekend, and none of the levers that could fix it are Indian.
Two routes, both compromised
Iran has been constraining traffic through the Strait of Hormuz for months. Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline existed precisely as the alternative - a way to move crude to the Red Sea without using the strait. Drones took it out on Friday and the kingdom shut it.
The Red Sea end is not secure either: Houthi forces hold a Yemeni port and an island at the gate, and a projectile has landed inside Saudi Arabia's Jazan province.
The arithmetic for India
India imports the overwhelming majority of the crude it consumes. The mechanism from there is not complicated:
June's trade d...