Hardeep Singh Puri meets US ambassador to discuss boosting energy cooperation

Amid a global energy supply crunch, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri met with US ambassador to India Sergio Gor on Wednesday to discuss bilateral energy cooperation. Their talks focused on strengthening the energy partnership and securing greater access to American energy commodities for Indian companies.

Puri later posted on X, “Very happy to receive @USAmbIndia H.E. Amb Sergio Gor in my office today. We held productive discussions on the bilateral energy cooperation between our countries and discussed ways to further strengthen our comprehensive energy relationship.”

The meeting is significant as India has been looking at diversifying its energy sourcing including for crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and both countries have already been making efforts to enhance the bilateral energy partnership. The US has emerged as a key supplier of LPG to India in the current crisis as supplies from West Asia, which comprised 90% of India's LPG imports before the war, dropped drastically.

In November 2025, India’s state-run oil marketing companies signed a one-year deal to import about 2.2 million tonnes of LPG from the US for 2026, a volume that accounts for nearly 10% of the country's total LPG requirement.

The US ambassador posted on X that the meeting included discussions on strengthening energy security and expanding access to American energy for India. “Great meeting with Minister @HardeepSPuri to advance the US-India energy partnership. We discussed strengthening energy security and unlocking new opportunities for accelerating growth. Expanding access to reliable American energy will further deepen our economic ties and support long-term energy security and diversity for both nations,” he wrote.

Addressing the media, Rajesh Agrawal, secretary in the ministry of commerce and industry, said on Wednesday, "The Indian team led by the chief negotiator will be visiting the US from 20th of this month. The negotiating teams will be meeting in person after a gap of about 3-4 months. They have been engaging virtually in the meantime.”

India has already outlined its plan to purchase $500 billion of US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products, and coking coal over the next five years. In February, both sides announced that they had agreed on the broad contours of the first phase of their proposed bilateral trade agreement. Under this arrangement, the US was to reduce tariffs on Indian exports from 50% to around 18%.

The arrangement, however, came to a halt after the US Supreme Court set aside the reciprocal duties introduced by the US president. Subsequently, the US government brought in a temporary, uniform tariff of 10% on imports from all countries for a 150-day period starting 24 February.