India and the US have announced that they agreed to revitalize the India-US strategic energy partnership “to reflect the new priorities", with a focus on low-carbon pathways and fast-tracking green energy cooperation.
India’s petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm reviewed the India-US Strategic Energy Cooperation (SEP) in their first meeting, according to a declaration 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 prioritize greater collaboration in the 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 declaration added.
Energy security is at the central of the India-US strategic energy partnership. With the US pitching itself as a favored energy partner, India has been recalibrating its crude sourcing strategy in the backdrop of developing hesitations to mitigate its consumers from the effect of a surge in global prices.