'Oil shipment a significant milestone in India-US partnership'

The arrival of first American oil shipment in Odisha this week marks a significant milestone in India-US partnership, the Trump administration said today.

The first of a series of new shipments of crude oil from the United States arrived in Odisha on October 2.

"We consider the increased Indian purchases of US crude oil to be a direct outcome of the June visit of the Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi to the White House," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters at her daily news conference.

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The leaders at that point talked about expanding and elevating the bilateral energy cooperation through a Strategic Energy Partnership, she noted.

"So, we look at that event as marking a significant milestone in the growing partnership between the United States and India," Nauert said in response to a question.

In one of the first shipments to India since the United States stopped oil exports in 1975, India received shipment of US crude oil with state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) importing a 1.6 million barrels parcel at Paradip.

State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) have also placed orders for about 2.95 million barrels and 1 million barrels of US crude respectively for their Kochi and Vizag refineries.

According to a US Embassy statement, the US crude oil shipments to India have the potential to boost bilateral trade by up to USD 2 billion.

Next month, Nauert would join President Donald Trump's daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump on a trip to India.

Ivanka would be leading a high-level US delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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