US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery, Vantara and green-energy giga complex as Washington seeks deeper energy cooperation with India and greater processing of Western Hemisphere crude.
Jamnagar, October 22 — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Reliance Industries’ massive Jamnagar complex on Wednesday, putting one of the world’s largest refining hubs at the centre of growing India-US energy cooperation.
Rubio was welcomed by Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, along with Nita Ambani, Isha Ambani and Anant Ambani.
Akash Ambani was not present at the welcome as he was overseeing the opening of Jio Platforms’ initial public offering.
The visit came a day after Rubio described India as a crude-refining “superpower” and called for greater processing of Venezuelan crude in the country.
Reliance’s Jamnagar complex has the capacity to process around 1.4 million barrels of crude oil per day, making it the world’s largest and one of the most complex single-site refineries.
Its large fuel-export operations make the facility an important part of global energy supply chains.
Rubio said Washington wants to work more closely with Reliance on refining crude from the Western Hemisphere, arguing that such cooperation could benefit both countries.
Reliance already plays an important role in this strategy.
According to the report, it is the largest buyer of Venezuelan crude after the United States itself, at a time when Washington is encouraging India to increase purchases from Venezuela.
Reliance is also expanding its energy relationship with the US through a proposed refinery project in Brownsville, Texas.
US President Donald Trump recently announced that Reliance is partnering on a new 168,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Texas.
The proposed facility is designed to process US-produced light shale crude and, if completed, would be the first major new US refinery in around five decades.
Rubio’s Jamnagar itinerary also included a visit to Vantara, Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation’s animal rescue, rehabilitation and conservation centre.
The 3,000-acre facility houses more than 2,000 animals across 43 species and employs about 2,100 caregivers and conservationists.
Another stop was the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, Reliance’s integrated clean-energy manufacturing hub.
The project covers solar manufacturing, energy storage, fuel cells, electrolysers and power electronics and is being developed on a 5,000-acre site at an expected cost of ₹75,000 crore.
Rubio arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday and held talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar covering bilateral cooperation.
He has also urged India to increase purchases of US energy, technology and defence systems.
The visit comes as India and the US continue negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement, with Rubio saying only a “small number of items” remain unresolved.
