NEW DELHI: India and the US plan to revamp the India-US strategic energy partnership “to reflect the new priorities”, with a focus on low-carbon pathways and accelerating green energy cooperation.
India’s petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm on Monday reviewed the India-US Strategic Energy Cooperation (SEP) in their first meeting, according to a statement from the petroleum and natural gas ministry.
“Both leaders agreed to revamp the India-US SEP to reflect the new priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden with focus on promoting clean energy with low-carbon pathways and accelerating green energy cooperation,” the Indian statement said.
India had elevated the India-US energy dialogue to a strategic energy partnership (SEP) in February 2018 after the first ministerial meeting held in New Delhi on 17 April, 2018 between Pradhan and then US energy secretary Rick Perry.
“They agreed to prioritise greater collaboration in cleaner energy sector- biofuels, CCUS, hydrogen production and carbon sequestration through technology exchange, joint R&D through Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R), among other initiatives,” the statement added.
Energy security is at the core of India-US strategic energy partnership. With US pitching itself as a preferred energy partner, India has been recalibrating its crude sourcing strategy in the backdrop of growing uncertainties to cushion its consumers from the impact of surge in global prices.
Consequently, US crude oil exports to India jumped to 2.11 million metric tonnes in February, helping dislodge Saudi Arabia as the second largest supplier to India, the world’s third largest oil importer. This comes in the backdrop of the Indian government working on diversifying the country’s energy basket with crude oil supplies from non-Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).
India has said that it will source crude oil from any country that offers cheaper and favourable terms. With domestic petrol and diesel prices at record highs, India had expressed its displeasure to Opec for ‘backtracking’ on its commitments. Saudi Arabia on its part had asked India to use the crude oil bought at low prices and stored in its strategic crude oil reserves.
India is particularly vulnerable as any increase in global prices can affect its import bill, stoke inflation and widen trade deficit. This also comes at a time when India is leaning on its old energy partner Russia to protect its consumers from price shocks, with the two countries exploring an approach to protect both the buyer and seller from the sharp volatility in global prices as reported by Mint earlier. India is also eyeing more long-term crude oil contracts from Russia.
India’s green energy space has also been witnessing significant traction, with a global shift to green energy to address growing environmental concerns. India is running the world’s largest clean energy programme to achieve 175 GW of renewable capacity by 2022. India currently has an installed renewable energy capacity of 89.63GW, with 49.59GW capacity under execution.
