India key partner in promoting strategic energy security goals:US

A day after India received its first LNG cargo from the US under a long-term supply deal, the Trump administration has said that New Delhi is a key partner in promoting its strategic energy security goals.

GAIL India has contracted 3.5 million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from US energy firm Cheniere Energy's Sabine Pass liquefaction facility in Louisiana. The first cargo from the project arrived at Dabhol in Maharashtra on Friday.

"The US views India as a key partner in promoting our shared strategic energy security goals regionally and globally, and we are working closely with India to find policy and regulatory solutions to scale up investment for a diversified energy economy,"said Tom Vajda, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia.

"Our partnership with India on energy is a great example of the US' 'all of the above' approach to energy, which includes traditional sources like coal, oil, and gas, as well as renewables and nuclear," Vajda wrote in a State department blogpost.

"This LNG delivery is the first of many that will ship from Cove Point in Maryland and Sabine Pass in Louisiana as part of two 20-year contracts with India's Gail Limited," he said.

As Energy Secretary Rick Perry highlighted in a recent op-ed, once six additional facilities currently under construction come online, the US will be able to export more than 10 billion cubic feet of LNG per day to its friends and allies around the world.

Vajda said American energy is central to its National Security Strategy, which notes that "exports of our energy resources, technologies, and services help our allies and partners diversify their energy sources and brings economic gains back home."