Marco Rubio to visit Jamnagar - Why US needs Reliance Industries to process Venezuelan crude amid record diesel prices?
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on an official visit to India from October 20 to 21 at the invitation of EAM Jaishankar as the two countries eye bilateral trade and other strategic deals. This is Rubio’s second visit to India in 2026, following an earlier trip to New Delhi in May.
During the two-day visit, Rubio will also travel to Jamnagar, where he is set to meet the Chairman of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani, on Wednesday. Reliance operates the world's largest refining complex in Jamnagar, and the meeting comes at a time when the US is eyeing an expansion of diesel supply sources to the country amid concerns about a shortage and fuel price rise, caused by the war with Iran.
US needs to process Venezuelan crude
One of the options that the US has to offset the oil supply crisis through the Strait of Hormuz is to refine more crude from Venezuela. Following the capture and extradition of long-time Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year, the US secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves in the country. According to the White House, Venezuela’s interim authorities have granted North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a privately held oil company, a 100-year concession for 17 oil fields.While the US has begun processing imported heavy crude at scale, Washington has not been able to take full advantage of the deal due to poorly maintained and aging infrastructure in Venezuela.
Reliance is equipped to process Venezuelan crude
This is where Reliance comes into the picture for the US, as the Mukesh Ambani-led firm has a long history of refining heavy Venezuelan crude. The two refineries Reliance operates in Jamnagar have a combined capacity of about 1.4 million barrels per day and are specifically engineered to handle ultra-heavy, waxy, and high-sulphur crudes like those from Venezuela.
What Rubio said
"We will talk about (refining more Venezuelan crude) tomorrow with Reliance...They have done so in the past, and I think as more and more of Venezuelan oil comes online, that is something they can do," Rubio told reporters in Mumbai on Monday.
Asked whether he would discuss the possibility of Reliance itself producing oil with Venezuela, Rubio said the matter had been discussed in the past, and that the matter would come up again. While Reliance is a major refiner of Venezuelan crude, it is not active inside the South American country."We are going to go see what the holdup is and what opportunities exist...this is a company that has had a presence in Venezuela in the past, and whose refining capabilities are substantial," he said.
