India is seeking to boost oil and gas imports from the US in an effort to reduce the trade imbalance between the two countries and avoid potential retaliatory tariffs.
“I think we purchased about $15 billion in US energy output,” India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said during a media briefing in Washington on Thursday, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Donald Trump. “There is a good chance that this figure will go up as much as $25 billion.”
Misri added that “it is entirely possible increased energy purchases will contribute to impacting the deficit between India and US.”
State-owned companies attending the India Energy Week conference in New Delhi this week said they would look to buy more US crude and LNG. Indian Oil Corp. is in talks with Cheniere Energy Inc. for a long term LNG supply pact. Gail India Ltd has also revived plans to buy a stake in a liquefaction facility in the US, Chairman Sandeep Gupta said.
India was the largest buyer of US crude in 2021, lifting some 406,000 barrels a day, accounting for 14.5% of total US exports, according to Kpler data. US oil exports to India fell to just 221,000 barrels a day last year as the processors turned to Russia’s discounted barrels. Now the world’s third-largest oil consumer is struggling to procure crude from Moscow as the latest US sanctions have disrupted supply chains, forcing refiners to look for alternatives.
The US is India’s second-largest trading partner after China, with a total trade of $82.5 billion between April and November 2024. But India’s exports stood at $52.9 billion against a basket of imported goods worth $29.6 billion — a gap that may expose the country to retaliatory tariffs from the US administration.
India’s initial optimism about the Trump presidency has been dampened by concerns over an impending trade war and immigration policies targeting its citizens. In the hope of avoiding trade restrictions, the government has offered concessions such as cutting import tariffs and phasing out additional levies on imports.
Modi agreed to begin negotiations to address the US trade deficit, President Trump said on Thursday, while blaming New Delhi for the high duties which led the US to implementing retaliatory tariffs.
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