India just publicly leaned on Washington to help fill a growing hole in its energy supply.
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar called the U.S. a "significant and reliable" energy partner on Sunday after meeting Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New Delhi.
For investors watching oil flows, that is a meaningful shift in posture from the world's third-largest crude importer.
Rubio is on a four-day visit to India, with the Quad foreign ministers' meeting on the agenda for Tuesday, and he told reporters the U.S. and India are "strategically aligned on energy."
Rubio said the two sides want "a world that can not just produce, but deliver the energy resources that are necessary to power a modern economy."
He also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, telling him the U.S. was ready to help India diversify its energy supplies.
Jaishankar said there has been a "significant uptick" in U.S. energy flowing to India, describing the moment as an "era of de-risking" where India needs large, dependable, and affordable sources.
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India relies heavily on imports for both crude oil and liquefied natural gas, and two of its most important supply lines are now under stress.
The Strait of Hormuz, which sits between India's coast and the Middle East producers it has historically bought from, is mostly closed because of the U.S. blockade on Iran.
Indian buyers of Russian crude have been hit with intermittent U.S. sanctions, which makes that flow less predictable.
Think of it like a household losing two of its three grocery stores in the same week, where whoever still has shelves stocked has a lot of leverage at the checkout.
That puts U.S. LNG and crude in a stronger position than at almost any point in the last decade, especially as oil markets remain on edge.
The Quad meeting could produce additional energy commitments, since Australia and Japan, the other two Quad members, are among the world's biggest LNG exporters and importers, respectively.
The U.S. has said it is willing to sell India as much energy as India is willing to buy.
A "reliable" label from New Delhi is a big shift, and it lands at the exact moment U.S. producers have spare capacity to ship.
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