Marco Rubio visits Reliance's Jamnagar refinery, meets Mukesh Ambani and family
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Reliance's Jamnagar refinery, Vantara animal-rescue centre and green-energy complex, where Mukesh Ambani and his family welcomed him.
by Akshat Trivedi · India TodayIn Short
- Rubio tours Vantara animal-rescue centre and green-energy giga complex
- Reliance plans new refinery in Texas, first US refinery in 50 years
- Sergio Gor says India's LPG imports from US rise to 67%, US becomes top supplier
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Reliance Industries' Jamnagar facilities in Gujarat on Wednesday, where billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani and almost his entire family welcomed him as he began a tour of the world's largest single-site refinery. The visit also included Reliance's Vantara animal-rescue centre and its green-energy giga factories.
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said he was honoured to accompany Rubio to Reliance's Jamnagar facilities. Highlighting the growing energy partnership between the two countries, Gor said India's imports of US liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) had surged from less than 10% to 67% over the past year, making the United States India's largest LPG supplier.
Gor also highlighted Reliance's planned investment in the first new US oil refinery in 50 years, describing it as another major opportunity to expand American energy production and create jobs.
Rubio's visit came a day after he described India as a crude-oil refining "superpower" and urged the country to process more Venezuelan crude. The visit placed Reliance, one of India's largest private industrial groups, at the centre of US-India energy diplomacy, analysts said.
Officials described the Ambani-hosted programme as a "private visit". Neither side released details of the visit. It came as US diesel prices surged ahead of the midterm elections.
AMBANI FAMILY WELCOMES RUBIO
Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, welcomed Rubio alongside his wife, Nita Ambani, and their children, Isha and Anant, people familiar with the visit said.
Reliance's Jamnagar complex can process 1.4 million barrels of crude oil a day, making it the world's largest and most complex single-site refinery. Its fuel exports also make the facility a major hub for global supplies.
RELIANCE'S PROPOSED TEXAS REFINERY ADDS TO ENERGY TIES
Reliance's proposed refinery in Texas adds a reciprocal dimension to its energy relationship with the United States.
US President Donald Trump recently announced that Reliance was partnering on a new refinery project in Brownsville, Texas, with a planned capacity of 168,000 barrels a day.
The proposed facility is designed to process US-produced light shale crude. If completed, it would be the first major new refinery in the United States in about five decades.
While Washington is seeking to encourage greater processing of Western Hemisphere crude at Jamnagar, Reliance is also positioning itself to process US oil closer to its source.
For Washington, Jamnagar offers a way to convert Western Hemisphere crude into diesel on a large scale, an increasingly pressing concern ahead of the midterm elections, analysts said. For Reliance, Rubio's visit offers validation of its role as both an investor in the United States and a major energy buyer, they said.
RUBIO VISITS VANTARA ANIMAL-RESCUE CENTRE
Rubio also visited Vantara, the animal-rescue, rehabilitation and conservation programme run by Reliance Industries and the Reliance Foundation in Jamnagar.
Spread across 3,000 acres, Vantara lies within the green belt of the refinery complex. Anant Ambani, Mukesh Ambani's youngest son, conceived the centre.
Vantara houses more than 2,000 animals across 43 species and employs around 2,100 caregivers and conservationists. The centre says it has rescued more than 200 elephants and thousands of other animals, reptiles and birds.
VISIT TO RELIANCE'S GREEN-ENERGY GIGA COMPLEX
The other stop on Rubio's itinerary was the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex, Reliance's integrated clean-energy manufacturing hub in Jamnagar.
The complex covers solar energy, storage, fuel cells, electrolysers and power electronics. Reliance is developing it on a 5,000-acre site at an expected cost of Rs 75,000 crore, or about $10 billion.
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