The United States and India share a bedrock belief that there is no distinction between “good” and “bad” energy.
July 17, 2020
minute read time
By Dan Brouillette, U.S. Secretary of Energy
Today I had the honor of speaking with India’s energy minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, and his colleagues, as we convened our latest session of the U.S.-India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) Ministerial.
The United States and India have long been friends and partners on the global stage. When President Trump and India’s Prime Minister Modi met here in 2017, they recognized the pivotal importance of energy to our relationship, leading to the SEP’s launch in April 2018. Its importance was reiterated during the President’s trip to Delhi this February, where I met with Minister Pradhan to discuss deepening our energy cooperation.
Since February, we’ve seen COVID-19 arise and exact a serious toll on our peoples and their economies, as well as on world energy markets. Today’s meeting reflected our determination to emerge boldly from the crisis and continue on this crucial path.
It helps to have a common perspective on energy. The United States and India share a bedrock belief that there is no distinction between “good” and “bad” energy. We are committed to deploying every energy fuel and technology at our disposal.
This mutual understanding opens up exciting opportunities for collaboration.
After seeing today’s presentations, I’m delighted by how we’re pursuing these opportunities under the SEP.
One of these opportunities concerns oil and gas development and trade.
We already have an industry-led U.S.-India Gas Task Force, which supports our shared goal of expanding India’s gas sector and promoting America’s energy exports.
We’re beginning to collaborate on strategic petroleum reserves, as evidenced by the Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Petroleum Reserves Cooperation we’re signing with Minister Pradhan today.
We’re collaborating on renewable energy, nuclear energy, and energy efficiency. We’re striving to enhance flexible operations of coal power plants and to strengthen and modernize our energy infrastructure, ensuring a more resilient electric grid. We’re forging ahead on research and development involving smart grids and energy storage to make our clean energy more reliable, and on carbon capture utilization and storage to make our reliable energy cleaner. We’re seeking to meet tomorrow’s challenges by encouraging more women to enter the energy sector and by advocating for more women in leadership positions.
As our partnership continues to grow, I’m excited about how we can increase our already-expanding energy trade.
U.S. crude oil exports to India jumped from 26,000 barrels per day in 2017 to an average of 256,000 barrels per day in 2019 – a nearly tenfold increase. Through May of this year, India received 68 shipments of U.S. natural gas as LNG, totaling 234.7 billion cubic feet (Bcf). And India is now the world’s single largest importer of U.S. coal.
Today is just the beginning of what we can do together to strengthen the security and expand the prosperity of both nations.