India, which receives 20 percent of its oil from Saudi Arabia, wants to deepen that relationship, he said. "We deeply value Saudi Arabia's role as a reliable partner in meeting our energy needs," he told businessmen gathered at the Saudi Joint Chambers of Commerce and Industry. "We believe that conditions are rife for moving beyond the traditional buyer-seller relationship to a comprehensive energy partnership.
"Indian companies are well-equipped to participate in upstream and downstream oil and gas sector projects." His remarks came after meetings with Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, and ahead of talks with King Abdullah later on Sunday.
India's rapid growth - which Singh said would accelerate to nine percent per annum within two years from the current year's more than seven percent rate - has upped its need for imported energy supplies, with the Gulf a key source.
"India's geographic dependence on the Gulf is likely to become amplified in the coming years due to limited prospects for enhancing domestic energy production," said a new report on the bilateral relationship by Riyadh-based Banque Saudi-Fransi.
Singh pitched for Saudi investment in Indian industries and for sales of more Indian manufactured goods to Saudi Arabia. The volume of two-way trade between the countries has zoomed to 25 billion dollars in the past year from around five billion dollars in 2003.
But most of that growth has come from Saudi oil and petrochemical exports. The value of Saudi exports to India are more than four times its imports from India, according to Banque Saudi-Fransi statistics. Indian exports to the Gulf and Saudi Arabia are mostly goods such as spices used by the 4.5 million Indian nationals working in the Gulf, 1.6 million of them in Saudi Arabia.
While a large number of Indian business leaders accompanied Singh to Riyadh, the visit was to focus on regional political and security issues, Singh said before his arrival.
"India and Saudi Arabia belong to the same extended neighbourhood," he told the Saudi Gazette. "During my visit I propose to discuss with King Abdullah how we can promote greater stability and security in the region," he said. "We are strong allies against the scourge of extremism and terrorism that affects global peace and security."
Both countries are concerned by militant violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where Saudi Arabia has traditionally held much influence. Both are also concerned about Iran's nuclear programme. But Indian Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, accompanying Singh, on Sunday denied he had asked Riyadh to mediate India's disputes with rival Pakistan.
"What I basically said was that Saudi Arabia is a valuable interlocutor for India," he said in a statement, without further explanation.
Singh's visit, the first by an Indian premier since Indira Gandhi came in 1982, underscores both sides' desire to improve ties. King Abdullah broke the ice underpinned by Riyadh's long deep ties with fellow Muslim state Pakistan with a visit to New Delhi in January 2006, just five months into his rule. Together with a trip to China, it represented the oil giant's turn eastward toward Asia's economic dynamism from its former Western orientation.