Washington, Feb. 15 -- Nothing symbolised the importance of energy in the talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump than the seating in the Oval Office on Thursday evening.

On the left of Trump were three cabinet members. Among them, two dealt with energy: secretary of interior and chair of Trump's energy council, Doug Burgum; and secretary of energy, Chris Wright. And nothing symbolised the intertwined connections of the energy barons and the energy policy world in Trump world than Wright, who served as CEO of North America's second largest hydraulic fracking company and on board of a small modular reactor company before his current role.

If there was any doubt what it all meant, Trump made it clear at th...