Washington, Sept 26:
India, with massive energy needs, has for a long time been exploring ways to diversify its energy sources, and the US is looking to meet those demands, a senior State Department official has said.
Last week, US President Donald Trump signed into law the ‘Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026’, which authorises him to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries buying Russian oil and gas, including China and India.
The law is named after late Senator Lindsey Graham, who had proposed a sanctions bill imposing 500 per cent tariffs on countries for buying Russian oil.
Responding to a question on the bill and India’s response about “potential implications” for the bilateral relationship, the official said that the US Congress took a pretty hard approach, especially publicly.
“India has been looking for a long time to diversify its energy sources. They’re a country that has massive energy needs,” the official said.
“You had members of Congress calling out India in particular, so of course India has to respond. We understand that. They have a domestic constituency, as do we. Like, there is no sort of hard feelings on any of that kind of activity.”
In response to a question by PTI on the bill and India’s concerns over it, the official said the US Congress passed a bill that gave President Trump a new tool in his toolbox.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean he deploys it tomorrow, but he has the opportunity to. His focus is on ending this war. It’s been something he campaigned on and something he’s been dedicated to from the beginning,” he said.
“We’re looking for our friends, especially like India, to help support that effort. But I think you’ll have to stay tuned on how the bill gets implemented. But there is a broad national security waiver, so you can imagine also the president, there’s a scenario, the president uses that as well,” he added.
Noting that “unfortunately” for a long time, Venezuelan and Iranian sources were cut off, “the options were very limited”, he said.
“Now, with President Trump’s incredibly successful operation in Venezuela, we are moving into a better position that countries like India are going to be able to get access to that market,” he added.
Pointing out that the “Indians are very interested”, the official said the country used to have refineries in Venezuela but it is very complicated to get those back up and running, given the damage the Nicolás Maduro regime did to the industry.
“We are looking to also become a huge source of India’s energy needs. We’re increasing our hydrocarbon exports,” the official said adding that the US is now the largest exporter of LPG, and second for LNG.
“The demands are great, and the needs for oil are there. We are looking for alternatives,” the official said adding that these are conversations that happen frequently, including between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Secretary Marco Rubio and they will continue.
“But I would say before even the war, India had been looking to diversify when it came to energy for a long time. It’s not a new concept. We just need to expedite it faster,” the senior State Department official said.