India US Energy Dialogue Meetings New Delhi - March 31 - April 4, 2008

Washington, DC
April 4, 2008

The third meeting of the Steering Committee of the India US Energy Dialogue took place in New Delhi on April 4, 2008. The U.S. delegation was led by U.S. Department of Energy Under Secretary, Mr. C. H. ‘Bud’ Albright, and the Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary, Shri Shivshankar Menon, assisted by the officials of the concerned Ministries of the Government of India and the United States Government.

Prior to the meeting of this apex committee , the Working Groups established under the India US Energy Dialogue i.e. focusing on (i) Oil and Natural Gas (ii) Coal (iii) Power and Energy Efficiency and (iv) New Technologies and Renewable Energy met in New Delhi from March 31, 2008 to April 3, 2008.

Both sides expressed satisfaction at the level of cooperation and progress achieved during the last almost 3 years. The two sides looked forward to a series of time-bound actions in bilateral energy cooperation - in keeping with the transformed nature of the strategic partnership between India and the USA and to move forward towards the common objective of clean energy , energy efficiency , energy security while pursuing the goal of sustainable development.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on April 4, 2008 between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Department of Energy, USA for cooperation in gas hydrates which, among other things would facilitate the establishment of a Gas Hydrate Technology Center in India. The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and the United States Trade Development Agency signed a Grant Agreement under which technical assistance will be provided for the proposed HPCL Asset Integrity Management Project.

The India-U.S. Energy Dialogue, launched on May 31, 2005, is aimed at increased India-U.S. trade and investment in the Indian energy sector by working with the public and private sectors to further identify areas of cooperation and collaboration and build on the broad range of existing cooperation between India and the United States to mobilize secure, clean, reliable and affordable sources of energy, focusing on (i) oil and natural gas (ii) coal (iii) power and energy efficiency,(iv) new technologies and renewable Energy and (v) civil nuclear energy.