Rubio visits Reliance’s Jamnagar complex for energy talks

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar complex on October 21, bringing the company’s refining capacity and possible energy cooperation into focus as Washington seeks to expand trade with India and encourage processing of Venezuelan crude. Accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, Rubio toured the facilities in Gujarat and met Reliance Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani and Executive Director Anant Ambani. Reliance said the discussions covered the global energy landscape, commercial opportunities in conventional and new energy, and the growing connection between energy and digital infrastructure, including data centres. Rubio had said the previous day that Washington wanted Reliance to refine more Venezuelan crude in India and could encourage the company to begin producing oil in Venezuela. Those remarks described U.S. objectives; the visit accounts do not establish that the discussions produced an agreement or commercial commitment. Reliance’s Jamnagar complex has crude-processing capacity of about 1.4 million barrels per day, according to company and news reports. Its ability to process a range of crude grades, including...