New Delhi, September 25 - Neftegaz.RU. Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on September 24 discussed 'Strategic Energy Partnership' during video conferencing with Kenneth Juster, the US Ambassador to India, and invited the US companies to engage more intensely in developing the gas infrastructure in India.
Informing about the same in series of tweets, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said that Pradhan also reviewed the strategic petroleum reserves' cooperation initiated in June this year.
"The US Ambassador to India Juster recognized that the energy component is emerging as a key constituent of the India-US strategic partnership," tweeted the Ministry.
"Minister Dharmendra Pradhan invited US companies to engage more intensely in developing the gas infrastructure in the country and reviewed the strategic petroleum reserves' cooperation initiated in June this year," it said in another tweet.
India only began purchasing oil from the US in 2017 as it sought to diversify its imports away from OPEC countries, but in the course of just three years, the US has become India's sixth largest oil supplier.
In 2018-2019, India purchased 6.2 million tonnes of crude oil from the US, a marked rise from the 1.9 million tonnes it purchased in 2017-2018.
It is also worth noting that India, as one of the world's largest energy consumers, relies on oil imports to meet 85 % of its energy needs, purchasing around 101 million tonnes from abroad between April 2019 and March 2020.
390
D.Pradhan invites US companies to engage in developing gas infrastructure in India