India and the US can take bilateral trade to the next level in the future, from its current position of $200 billion to much higher and up to $500 billion, said India’s Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Speaking on a roundtable during the Gastech 2024 energy conference, underlined how the trade relationship was improving, on which the US has now emerged as India’s sixth-largest trade partner in the energy space.
Exports of hydrocarbons between India and the US nearly doubled in volume than that of 2018-19 in FY 2023-24 at $13.6 billion. Hydrocarbon trade during the first two months of FY 2024-25 reached $2.43 billion, suggesting enormous growth potential. “This impetus will drive mutual trade back above the $500 billion mark,” he added.
Mukesh Aghi, President and CEO, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), and D C Manjunath, Consul General of India in Houston, will address the forum. This interaction with stakeholders from USISPF and the US-India Business Council (USIBC) will boost the significance of the US-India energy partnership for Puri.
Puri also stated that India leveraged its G20 Presidency to create the Global Biofuels Alliance, a fact that is particularly revealing in association with the US and other like-minded countries. Such a move decreases carbon footprint on those energy solutions it focuses on, thus being reflective of India’s interest in sustainability on energy issues.
Puri discussed carbon capture, utilization and storage with Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Energy, during meetings with Brad Crabtree, which is going towards balancing India’s energy security and its stated desires to accomplish net-zero productions by 2070.
He also met with Vitol’s leadership, Baker Hughes, and Woodside Energy to discuss future investment opportunities in hydrogen, geothermal energy, carbon capture technologies, and so on. Puri asked the leadership at Shell USA to participate in the next rounds of India’s OALP bids due for enhancement in the ease of doing business both at the exploration and production stages.
She, in fact became more actively involved in the ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign wherein she planted her own sapling at the Consulate General of India.
