NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday gave a big push to securing India’s energy interests when he met CEOs of 17 global energy companies in Houston and the two sides signed an MoU for Indian investment of $ 2.5-billion LNG supply from the US for four decades.Hours after landing in Houston, Modi headed straight into his maiden engagement of his first US trip in his second term. CEO of 17 global energy companies participated in the Roundtable addressed by the PM. The combined net worth of companies present in the meet was $1 trillion with a presence in 150 countries. All companies have some engagement with and presence in India The roundtable on Saturday focussed on working together for energy security and expanding mutual investment opportunities between India and the United States, officials told ET. The PM is understood to have responded to the queries of each and every CEO present on the occasion.“It is impossible to come to Houston and not talk energy! Had a wonderful interaction with leading energy sector CEOs. We discussed methods to harness opportunities in the energy sector,” Modi said in a tweet after the meeting.The PM also witnessed the signing of MoU between US natural gas company Tellurian Inc and India’s Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) after the meeting. As per the MoU, PLL will invest $2.5 billion in Tellurian’s proposed Driftwood LNG export terminal, in exchange for the rights to 5 million metric tonnes of LNG per year for over 40 years. The two companies will endeavour to finalise the transaction agreements by March 31, 2020.“The objective of the meeting was to deepen our energy cooperation as part of our strategic energy partnership. CEOs talked about enhancing their footprint in India. They lauded government efforts towards ease of doing business, steps taken towards deregulation in the sector, supported reforms and policies and were upbeat on the Indian economy,” an official told ET.The meeting was fruitful and one of the main objectives the meeting was to listen from the CEOs and get their perspective on various aspects of India’s energy sector ranging from environment to technology, investment and energy independence, the official said.The CEOs present in the meeting included those from Air Products, Baker Hughes, BP PLC, Cheniere Energy, Dominion Energy, Emerson Electric Company, Exxonmobil, Perot Group and Hillwood, IHS Markit, Lyondellbasell Industries, Mcdermott, Schlumberger, Tellurian Inc, Total SA, Vinmar International and Westlake Chemicals.“We made some suggestions and Prime Minister Modi was very receptive to them,” Seifi Ghasemi, CEO of Air Products, told reporters after the round table in Houston. “We made suggestions about hydrogen technology,” Ghasemi said, in response to a question. “The meeting was very, very productive. Specific suggestions that they (CEOs) made was about India having a lot of coal, especially low-quality coal. They said they have technologies that can convert that coal to synthetic gas, which can be used for making chemicals and reduce India’s dependence on imported oil,” Ghasemi said.