NEW DELHI: India said Monday it had signed a “significant” deal that will see the United States supply nearly 10 percent of the Asian giant´s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports, as it seeks to diversify its energy sources.
Relations between Washington and New Delhi plummeted in August after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on India to 50 percent, with US officials accusing the country of fuelling Russia´s war in Ukraine by buying its discounted oil.
Trump has claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to cut its Russian oil imports as part of a prospective trade deal — something New Delhi has not confirmed.India and the United States remain in talks, despite disagreements over a range of issues including agricultural trade and the Russian oil purchases.
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said India had signed the one-year deal for 2.2 million tonnes per annum of LPG, sourced from the US Gulf Coast, providing “close to 10 percent” of India´s annual imports of the fuel.
Puri said it was “the firststructured contract of US LPG for the Indian market”.“In our endeavour to provide secure, affordable supplies of LPG to the people of India, we have been diversifying our LPG sourcing,” Puri said in a statement, adding that “one of the largest and the world´s fastest growing LPG market opens up to the United States”.