During his address at the New York Foreign Press Centre, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright brought up a bunch of issues to the floor. With some press representatives also present from South Asian nations, including India, the ongoing tug of war between New Delhi and Washington DC over the former’s Russian oil purchases became one of the central focusses of the discussion. Similarly, Pakistan’s ties with the United States were equally brought into the mix.
At one point, a Pakistan journalist looked back at prior comments made by US President Donald Trump about Islamabad potentially oil to India. Back in July, the American leader wrote on Truth Social, “We have just concluded a Deal with the Country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive Oil Reserves. We are in the process of choosing the Oil Company that will lead this Partnership. Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling Oil to India some day!”
His post at the time followed merely hours after the announcement of an additional tariff penalty for India over its trade relationship with Russia. On Wednesday (US time), alluded to the same mention in an attempt to scoop out a clear answer about where the US stood on that front in present day.
Pakistani journalist’s question on oil reserves
“By announcing trade deal with Pakistan, President Trump said that we are working with Pakistan on a trade deal and we will develop their massive oil reserves. In this process, we are finalizing our company, and he jokingly said there might be one day Pakistan sell oil to India, Nuaman Ishfaq Mughal affiliated with Pakistan’s Parliament Times said, according to the official State Department press release. He then asked, “What is the, sir, progress on doing oil exploration corporation with Pakistan?”
Here’s what Chris Wright said.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on America developing oil reserves in Pakistan
Admitting that he had spoken with American companies or “dived into that issue yet,” the energy secretary still maintained that he was excited to engage with the project in question.
“I worked – and, in fact, my father-in-law worked on natural gas production in Pakistan 30 years ago. And as you know, Pakistan’s got great natural gas resources,” he went on. “Investment dried up on those, so that production has declined. But those resources are there.”
Standing by President Trump’s previous words, he said that he would love to join forces with US companies and the government to figure out how “to better energise Pakistan.” He concluded the response to the query, saying, I’m going to look into it. Appreciate that.”
Chris Wright on India
During the same event, the energy secretary further emphasised that he was “all in on energy cooperation, trade cooperation with India,” but the prime focus was first on how to come together and “put the maximum pressure to bring the war to an end.”
On the same page, Wright wished that India would work with America instead of Russia. “You can buy oil from every nation on the Earth, just not Russian oil. That’s our position. America has oil to sell, but so does everybody else,” he emphasised. “We don’t want to punish India. We want to end the war and we want to grow our relations with India.”
Wright’s address in New York happened a day ahead of Trump’s meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir at the White House on Thursday (US time).
Trump and Sharif’s first formal bilateral interaction was held at the Oval Office, with Vice President JD Vance and State Secretary Marco Rubio also present. As per PTI’s report, the closed-door meeting was originally meant to begin at 4:30 pm local time but was ultimately by about 30 minutes, as was already highlighted in the US president’s remarks to reporters before it.