US Official to Visit India to Discuss Shale Gas Exports

US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will be travelling to India in less than a fortnight, during which he is expected to discuss the issue of shale gas export with Indian counterparts.

"I will be in India in two weeks," Moniz said yesterday during a Congressional hearing in which a lawmaker raised the issue of shale gas export to India, Press Trust of India reported. 

Moniz said that he would be evaluating the export applications on a case-by-case basis, expeditiously.

Under current laws, shale gas can't be exported to countries with which the US does not have a free trade agreement (FTA). Recently the Department of Energy approved one license for export to shale gas to a non-FTA country. 

Olson said that exporting shale gas to a country like India is in the national security interest of the United States.