New Delhi, India — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in India for a two-day visit, during which he will visit the Jamnagar refinery complex in Gujarat, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, a major player in global oil markets.
Reliance’s crude refinery, located in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, is the world’s largest single-site refinery. In many ways, Reliance Industries’ business sits at the crossroads of the current global energy crisis.
The conglomerate is at the heart of Washington’s efforts to punish Russian energy buyers, while trying to contain oil prices amid the war with Iran, in addition to rising diesel prices in the United States, where crucial midterm elections loom. Reliance also only recently embarked on a major investment in the United States, which President Donald Trump’s administration has cited as an example of its success in attracting global capital.
Rubio is leaving the capital, New Delhi, at a time when bilateral relations between the United States and India are rocky, strained by a series of sticking points — and by an elusive trade deal.
So why is America’s top diplomat visiting the world’s largest single-site oil refinery?
Where is Rubio visiting?
After meetings in Mumbai, India’s financial hub in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, Rubio will fly to Jamnagar in neighboring Gujarat near the Gulf of Kutch. Jamnagar opens onto the Arabian Sea and is home to the Reliance Industries refining complex, a major hub for crude processing and fuel exports, which processes 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd).
Rubio also visited India earlier this year, but that trip “is a little more business-oriented,” U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor told reporters last week. A statement from Rubio’s office said he would “meet with business leaders to promote opportunities for business investment and economic cooperation.”
“(In Jamnagar) he will meet some of the Reliance people,” Gor said.
What is there in Jamnagar?
The world’s largest single-site oil refining complex has a combined crude processing capacity of 1.4 million b/d. This represents almost 1.5 percent of global refining capacity, according to the company.
The complex includes two refineries: the original facility, commissioned in 1999 with a capacity of 660,000 b/d, and a second export-oriented refinery, commissioned in 2008, adding 580,000 b/d, which operates in a special economic zone.
Jamnagar imports crude from international suppliers and exports refined products to global markets. The refinery can process heavy, sulfur-rich crude that many facilities cannot process efficiently, converting oil into higher-value products.
Reliance said last month that the complex had processed more than 216 grades of crude, claiming to be “perhaps the only refinery to achieve this feat.”
The capacity of the Jamnagar refinery is also leading to a sharp recovery in imports of Venezuelan crude – taken over by the United States earlier this year after the kidnapping of then-President Nicolas Maduro – as Washington seeks to reshape the global oil trade.
Reliance is expected to account for about 350,000 to 370,000 bpd of October’s inflow, according to estimates by analytics firm Kpler. “We will discuss with Reliance the possibility of refining more Venezuelan crude,” Rubio told reporters in brief remarks Tuesday.
Why is the refinery important to the world’s energy supply?
Reliance is a central player in maintaining the stability of global oil markets, as one of the world’s largest suppliers of refined petroleum products. In September, for example, six of the seven large cargo ships that docked at European Union ports carrying petroleum products were carrying Reliance cargo.
Reliance’s biggest export is diesel, which is of particular concern to Trump, whose prices are hitting historic highs in the United States ahead of the midterm elections early next month.
Although data on exports by category is not public, a Reuters news agency analysis from trade sources noted that Reliance Industries exported 21.66 million tonnes of refined petroleum products in the first half of 2025 from Jamnagar. Diesel accounted for the largest share at 9.81 million tonnes, followed by gasoline at 6.14 million tonnes and jet fuel at 2.06 million tonnes.
Europe accounted for the largest share of the company’s exports, accounting for 28% of Reliance’s refined products during the period. Buyers include BP, ExxonMobil, Glencore, Vitol and Trafigura.
The Jamnagar refinery also shipped petroleum products worth about $143 million to the United States last month, according to data cited by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Finnish think tank.
The ACI noted in its report that the EU ban on imports of petroleum products made from Russian crude from January 2026 does not adequately prevent products from third-country refineries from entering Europe when those refineries also process Russian crude. The Jamnagar refinery is a prime example of this flaw.
Rubio’s visit to the refinery also comes as Trump faces his worst approval ratings amid inflation and rising fuel prices ahead of the November midterm elections. Nearly 31% of Americans are satisfied with Trump’s performance – the lowest number ever recorded during his two terms, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey.
The Trump administration also reportedly pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end strikes against Russian energy facilities, which have roiled global fuel markets.
Why the refinery is important for the Russian-Ukrainian war
Reliance is also a key player in U.S. efforts to influence how much oil Russia sells.
Since Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine began in February 2022, India has become the second largest buyer of Russian oil after China. And Reliance is behind this increase in imports. While only 3% of its oil came from Russia before 2022, this share increased to 50% in 2025.
So when Trump imposed additional 25% tariffs on Indian goods in August 2025 to punish New Delhi for buying Russian oil, Reliance was directly hit. It significantly reduced its imports of Russian crude in the following months, but it still accounted for a third of the oil processed by the Jamnagar refinery in the July-September 2026 quarter.
That was threatened when the Trump administration appeared ready to impose 100% tariffs on Indian goods due to continued imports of Russian oil, under a new law passed last month.
But Trump has since suspended those proposed tariffs, easing concerns for India and Reliance.
Rubio said India was diversifying its imports away from Russian crude, although it still buys millions of barrels of Russian oil every day. “There are countries like India, for example, that have intentionally diversified their energy portfolio, but still receive a significant amount of energy from Russia because it’s difficult to go from one day to the next,” Rubio said Sunday.
“But they are also an important ally and partner of the United States.”
Is Reliance also investing in the US?
Yes, India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, is investing in the United States, primarily through energy-related projects.
He supports America First Refining’s proposed oil refinery at the Port of Brownsville in Texas, which will also be the first major U.S. refinery in about 50 years, announced by Trump in March.
The refinery is expected to cost between $3 billion and $4 billion and process about 60 million barrels of U.S. crude per year. Reliance has signed a 20-year deal to buy a large share of the facility’s output, with operations expected to start around 2029.
In November 2024, Reliance’s US subsidiary also acquired a 21% stake in helium explorer Wavetech Helium for $12 million as part of its low-carbon energy strategy.
Last month, Trump announced that India’s Essar Group – an oil major with close ties to Russia – was planning an $18 billion integrated steel investment in the United States through its subsidiary Mesabi Metallics.
Didn’t Trump’s ally just oppose Ambani?
Despite Reliance’s investments in the US and Rubio’s upcoming visit to the Jamnagar facility, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a key Trump ally, recently lashed out at Ambani.
His space telecommunications company Starlink has been struggling for years to obtain a license to operate in India.
In a series of X messages recently, Musk accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of blocking Starlink’s entry into Jio, market leader Ambani’s telecom company. Musk directly mocked Ambani, calling him “Prime Minister Ambani” and asking if he would “consider allowing Starlink to compete.” Starlink, Musk wrote, was blocked by “oligarchs” protecting their “monopolistic hold” over Indians.
In a statement published on
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