'Very interested' in energy partnership with India: US energy secretary

The Biden administration is "very interested" in continuing to ensure that the US has a strong energy partnership with India, Energy Secretary Jennifer M Granholm has said.

Granholm, the first woman energy secretary of the US, made the remarks on Tuesday while responding to a question during a hearing on the department's budget by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

I'm very interested in continuing to ensure that India and the US have a strong partnership and there are a lot of energy tools that can help India achieve its own goals which are very aggressive as well, she told lawmakers during the Congressional hearing.

Senator Roger Marshall said energy is a national security issue. It's a tool that we can use to help or harm our allies or enemies. I'm especially prioritising our relationships with the quad, Australia, Japan, and India, he said.

There's certainly an opportunity to help our ally India with natural gas and expand our natural gas to those. How do you feel about the Department of Energy's plan to strengthen that energy partnership within just specifically as it pertains to natural gas exports to them? Marshall asked.

Granholm said she is really interested in doing it through technologies that eliminate methane and reduce methane from natural gas pipelines, production, and combustion.

And that is another strategy that we're working on...to make sure that we can have natural gas that is carbon free, she said.