The U.S. Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, will visit India from March 10-12 to co-chair the U.S.-India Energy Dialogue with Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of India’s Planning Commission. The Energy Secretary will be accompanied by Kit Batten, USAID Global Climate Change Co-ordinator and other senior officials.
The Energy Dialogue will focus on co-operation in shale gas exploration, collaboration on strategic petroleum reserves, export of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to India, civilian use of nuclear energy and partnership in the field of renewable energy. India will also raise the issue of the U.S.’s restrictive policy for exporting gas to countries with which it does not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The U.S. has made an exception for GAIL India Ltd. and the company will be supplied with 3.5 million tonnes of LNG annually from Cheniere Energy’s terminal in Louisiana.
The U.S.-India Energy Dialogue was launched in 2005 to promote increased trade and investment in the energy sector. The Energy Secretary’s visit was earlier scheduled for the month of January, but was postponed following a diplomatic spat over the arrest of Devyani Khobragade – India’s Deputy Consul General in New York.