India and Canada may explore deeper energy cooperation while expeditiously concluding negotiations for a comprehensive free trade deal, people aware of the matter told the Hindustan Times, adding that the countries plan to establish a two-way energy supply chain in which India would import Canadian oil and gas and send refined petroleum products the other way.
Source: Hindustan Times (via bilaterals.org)
A team of Canadian negotiators will visit New Delhi early next month to participate in the sixth round of free trade talks, the people said, requesting anonymity. Both sides are making efforts to conclude negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) before an expected visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Canada on December 11-12, which the High Commission of India in Ottawa announced last week.
Why energy fits both sides
The proposed cooperation could cover crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), potash, uranium and refined petroleum products. Canadian oil sands are the world's fourth-largest oil deposits and Canada is the world's fourth-largest producer of crude oil after the US, Russia and Saudi Arabia, and the fifth-largest producer of natural gas, the Hindustan Times noted.
India, meanwhile, is the world's third-biggest crude oil consumer after the US and China, the second-largest consumer of LPG and the fourth-largest consumer of LNG — which is why officials believe the two economies are compatible for a robust energy supply chain. Canada pitched energy, critical minerals and aerospace as long-term supply partnerships during the fifth round of CEPA talks in Ottawa earlier this month, according to earlier reporting.
Both sides target two-way trade of C$70 billion by 2030 — yaani about ₹4.65 lakh crore. A concrete energy deal already on the books: Canadian producer Cameco's uranium supply agreement with India's Department of Atomic Energy, estimated at about C$2.6 billion — yaani roughly US$1.88 billion — for deliveries from 2027 to 2035.
The energy proposal builds on the rapid reset in ties covered in our earlier report on the CEPA talks and Modi's December visit. Read the earlier CEPA report
Nothing has been signed yet: the energy supply chain is a proposal under discussion, described by unnamed people aware of the matter, and the CEPA itself remains under negotiation. What is confirmed is the timetable — a sixth round in Delhi early next month and a shared push to finish before the December visit.