US shale gas export to 'desperate' India could be game changer, say experts

"The US has this great leverage, in terms of energy exports. So, I think, that reinforces my view that we need to get this big thing going where there are much more 2-way trade -offs possible," former IMF economist, Arvind Subramanian, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.

Dan Twining, a Senior Fellow for Asia at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, also supported the move at the hearing and argued that this would help the US build its security architecture in the Asia Pacific region.

He said: "We should also particularly build in that dimension to our key security partnerships in Asia. In Asia our top most important, most capable security partnerships are with Japan and India in different ways

"...say to them, look, part of this package could be preferential access or some facilitated agreement to US energy exports, because in fact, we have a national security interest in helping you develop your economy and helping you develop your military capacity, help us police this tough region in the world, create some ballast in Asia other than around China."

Twining added: "This is something our allies desperately need. And so, you know, I think this could be a game changer

... contd.