Jamnagar: Almost the entire Ambani family led by billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani welcomed the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Jamnagar Wednesday, as he began a tour of the world’s largest single-site refinery.
Rubio arrived in Jamnagar a day after calling India a crude-refining “superpower” and urging more processing of Venezuelan crude there.
The day also included a visit to Reliance’s Vantara animal-rescue centre and giga factories being developed by the conglomerate.
The visit puts a private industrial empire at the centre of US-India energy diplomacy, analysts said.
Officials have described the Ambani-hosted programme as a “private visit”. It comes as US diesel prices surge ahead of the mid-term elections.
No details of the visit were released by either side.
Rubio was welcomed by Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, his wife Nita and children Isha and Anant, people familiar with the visit said.
Akash Ambani, Mukesh Ambani’s eldest son and managing director of Jio Platforms, was overseeing the opening of the telecom giant’s initial public offering (IPO).
Reliance’s Jamnagar complex can process 1.4 million barrels of crude a day and is the world’s largest and most complex single-site refinery. Its fuel exports make it a hub for global supply.
Rubio told Reliance-owned Network 18 that Washington wants to work more closely with Reliance on refining energy from the Western Hemisphere, calling that helpful to both countries.
Reliance is already a key player in Washington’s oil diplomacy. It is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude after the US itself, at a time when Washington is urging India to buy more, the people said.
Reliance’s proposed Texas refinery adds a reciprocal dimension to its energy ties with the US.
US President Donald Trump recently announced that Reliance is partnering to build a new 168,000 barrels-a-day refinery project in Brownsville, Texas.
While Washington is seeking to encourage more processing of Western Hemisphere crude at Jamnagar, the Indian conglomerate is also positioning itself to handle US oil closer to its source.
The plant is designed to process US-produced light shale crude and would be the first major new US refinery in about five decades if completed.
Besides the refinery, Rubio also visited Vantara.
Reliance Industries and Reliance Foundation-run Vantara is a rescue, rehabilitation and conservation programme spread over 3,000 acres in Jamnagar. It sits within the green belt of the refinery complex and was conceived by Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani.
The centre houses more than 2,000 animals across 43 species and employs about 2,100 care-givers and conservationists. It says it has rescued more than 200 elephants and thousands of other animals, reptiles and birds.
The other stop on Rubio’s visit was the Dhirubhai Ambani Green Energy Giga Complex – Reliance’s integrated clean-energy manufacturing hub at Jamnagar, covering solar, storage, fuel cells, electrolysers and power electronics. It is being built on a 5,000-acre site at an expected cost of Rs 75,000 crore (about USD 10 billion).
The US Secretary of State arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday, where External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar hosted him for wide-ranging talks on bilateral cooperation.
Ahead of the meeting, Rubio described India as a crude oil refining “superpower” and advocated for processing more Venezuelan crude in India.
He also urged India to scale up energy trade with the US and increase purchases of American technologies and defence systems.
For Washington, Jamnagar offers a way to turn Western Hemisphere crude into diesel at scale, a pressing concern before the midterms, analysts said.
For Reliance, the visit is validation, and a chance to show the US it is an investor as well as a buyer, they said.
For New Delhi, it comes as both governments try to settle their differences. Rubio said only “a small number of items” remain unresolved on a trade deal.