Reliance Open to U.S. Partnerships as Jamnagar Can Refine 1.4 Million Barrels a Day
Key Facts
Reliance Industries said it was open to working with U.S. companies in oil and gas and new energy, in a statement issued on October 21. The company, India’s largest private-sector refiner, framed the opening as part of its effort to provide affordable energy amid a changing landscape and rising demand. The statement followed talks between Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani and Executive Director Anant Ambani and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The talks took place during Rubio’s visit to the Jamnagar complex, which houses Reliance’s refinery and new-energy plants. The company announced no specific agreement or project in Venezuela; Venezuelan oil came up in Rubio’s remarks as a potential opportunity for discussion.
Reliance said the discussions covered opportunities for commercial partnerships in conventional and new energy, as well as reliable, affordable supplies. Topics also included technological progress, supply-chain resilience and the investments needed to keep pace with demand growth. Those issues give the talks a scope beyond buying or selling crude, but remain subjects for discussion and potential partnership, according to the company’s statement. Reliance said its goal of providing affordable energy comes amid a changing landscape and rising demand, without disclosing commitments or commercial terms. Rubio’s visit to Jamnagar, the secretary said, offered an opportunity to discuss the role of large refining capacity in addressing energy-security concerns worsened by shipping disruptions linked to the Iran and Yemen wars.
The Jamnagar complex has crude-processing capacity of about 1.4 million barrels a day and had processed more than 240 different crude varieties as of October 22, 2026. Rubio said Reliance had the capacity to refine heavy crude and had done so in the past. India could process more Venezuelan oil if supply increased, he added, saying: "They have the capacity to refine heavy crude. And they have done that in the past, and I think they could do that as more Venezuelan oil flows into the market." The secretary raised the prospect of producing oil in Venezuela but did not link it to an announcement by Reliance of a project there. He also said Venezuelan oil alone would not offset potential supply disruptions elsewhere, and that increased production could provide some short-term relief.
The discussions come as U.S. crude flows to India fell in the first ten months of 2026 to an average of 128 thousand barrels a day, about 43% below the average for the same period in 2025. Those flows were about 149 thousand barrels a day in 2024, then rose to about 238 thousand in 2025, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data. The 2026 decline reverses the previous two annual levels, while Reliance’s openness creates room to discuss broader commercial ties in energy. Meanwhile, India bought 427 thousand barrels a day of Venezuelan oil in May, making it the second-largest importer that month. India halted purchases of Venezuelan crude in 2025 after a U.S. authorization to impose an estimated 25% tariff on countries buying it, before resuming them after sanctions were eased in February 2026.
Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s visit to India from June 3 to 7, 2026, included talks on cooperation in energy, trade, investment and renewable energy, according to an Indian foreign ministry spokesman. The U.S. trade representative also announced a trade deal with India in February aimed at reducing tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and a broad range of agricultural products. These two tracks place energy within broader trade contacts between Washington and New Delhi, but sources did not link the trade deal to a specific partnership between Reliance and U.S. companies. On crude, Jamnagar’s ability to process multiple oil grades remains central to Rubio’s argument on Venezuelan supplies. Reliance has made no announcement of a purchase of Venezuelan oil or investment in its production.
The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet on October 27 and 28, with a news conference on October 28. This comes as the region and energy markets monitor supply concerns, while Reliance’s statement did not identify a link between its talks with Rubio and the interest-rate decision. The U.S. Energy Information Administration schedules its regular Weekly Petroleum Status Report for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, subject to holiday exceptions. Its public calendar does not list October 28 as a special release date. Reliance’s dollar-denominated global depositary receipt, listed in London, closed at $49.95 on October 27, compared with the previous session’s close of $49.75.