Modi in Houston: Highlights of the Energy Round-Table

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a week’s visit to the United States. This tour is aimed at strengthening the bilateral ties of both nations. On his very first day of the tour, Saturday 21st 2019, the Indian leader held a historic meeting with the energy sector CEOs in the US.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) issued a statement saying, “Further energising India-USA friendship. Among the first engagements of PM @narendramodi in Houston is a meeting with CEOs from the energy sector. India and USA are looking to diversify cooperation in this sector”. This is a wise step in the eyes of investors towards meeting the growing energy demand of India.

Let’s look at the major highlights of this energy round-table.

Houston Energy Round-Table Highlights

• The companies which attended the meeting were Air Products, Baker Hughes, BP PLC, Cheniere Energy, Dominion Energy, Emerson Electric Company, ExxonMobil, Perot Group and Hillwood, IHS Markit, Lyondellbasell Industries, Mcdermott, Schlumberger, Tellurian Inc., Total S.A., Vinmar International and Westlake Chemicals.
• The CEOs of these 17 global energy companies gathered to discuss the opportunities in the Indian energy sector. They talked about energy security and mutual investment opportunities between India and the United States.
• An MoU has been signed between the US natural gas company Tellurian Inc. and Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) of India. Under the scope of this undertaking, PLL will invest $2.5 billion in Tellurian’s proposed Driftwood LNG export terminal. In return, Tellurian will provide India with 5 million metric tons of LNG per year for the next  40 years.
• The companies suggested technologies to convert low-grade coal available in India to synthetic gas. It will then be utilized in making chemicals. Also, it will reduce India’s dependence on imported oil.

People’s Take on The Meeting

Viewing it in the light of hope and better opportunities, Mr Modi has regarded this as a “fruitful” meeting with CEOs. Here is how people reacted to this eventful business discussion between India and the United States.

• CEO of Air Products said that the Indian PM was very receptive of the suggestions given by the leaders in the room. He specifically mentioned that suggestions about hydrogen technology were given to the PM.
• President of Emerson said, “We had a number of recommendations, you know, again, ease of doing business. We’ve done a lot of work with invest India, which has been very helpful and our new factory project we’re working on right now. Just to continue to drive those types of changes for and again, make India competitive.”
• “The Prime Minister articulated this very clearly. We came away convinced that the environment is very conducive to grow US-India partnership in energy,” said Vijay Goradia of Vinmar on India’s energy security and reduction of carbon emissions.

This tour of Indian Prime Minister can be a major breakthrough for India’s energy sector. We are looking at long term effects on the different dimensions of the Indian economy. While the analysts start looking for the implications of this event, the nation awaits some more powerful decisions in this direction by Mr Modi.