New Delhi is expected to seek a waiver from Washington to enable investments in its upstream oil and gas sector, during India-U.S. energy dialogue on Monday.
The two sides will discuss one little-known aspect of U.S. policies that still stands in the way of finalising India’s investment decisions in the U.S. upstream oil and gas sector, including in shale gas. This pertains to Indian oil investments and operations in countries such as Sudan that were sanctioned by the U.S.
In addition to discussing upstream oil and gas investment that includes waiver due to legacy operations in sanctioned countries, the talks between U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia will touch on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and shale oil.
Indian companies have signed an off-take agreement with a U.S. company for the supply of 3.5 million metric tonnes of LNG per annum. More significantly, this is the first LNG project in the U.S. with non-Free Trade Agreement (FTA) authorisation. According to the U.S. policy, a special waiver is required for countries interested in purchasing U.S. oil and gas but do not have a bilateral FTA.
An Indian company has taken a 20 per cent participatory interest in a shale gas asset, where it will second its employees for getting know-how about shale gas exploration and production.
On the political side, this is the first ministerial visit from the U.S. after the logjam in bilateral ties caused by the arrest and handcuffing of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade last December in New York. Last week, a senior U.S. Foreign Ministry official in-charge for India had visited New Delhi to hold talks with Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and officials.
On the strategic front, energy policies of both countries, security of supply and strategic oil reserves will form part of the talks as will discussion on South Asia regional energy integration, including promoting intra-regional energy trade.
The Indo-U.S. Energy Dialogue began in 2005, but gathered pace in recent years because of two major developments — Washington’s desire to persuade countries like India that were major buyers of Iranian crude to curtail their purchases and the discovery of huge shale gas reserves in the U.S.. While restrictions on Iran have receded and India has stepped up oil purchases from the country, many issues remain to be discussed on the question of Indian investments in the hydrocarbon sector as well as sorting out global issues in energy supply.
India and the U.S. will also touch on issues associated with civilian use of nuclear energy and its control and the exchanges between the U.S.’ Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and India’s Department of Atomic Energy and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
Source: The Hindu
0 comments:
Post a Comment