Rubio visits RIL's Jamnagar refinery complex; Ambassador Gor says US now India's top LPG supplier

The United States has emerged as India's largest supplier of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), with its share in India's imports surging to 67 per cent from less than 10 per cent over the past year, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said on Wednesday.

Gor made the announcement while accompanying US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a visit to Reliance Industries Ltd's (RIL) sprawling refinery complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Rubio, who is on a three-day visit to India, and Gor were welcomed at the refinery complex by members of the Mukesh Ambani family.

The ambassador also highlighted Reliance Industries' proposed investment in a new oil refinery in the United States, describing it as an important opportunity to strengthen bilateral energy cooperation.

𝗨𝗦 𝗟𝗣𝗚 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲

In a post on X, Gor said he was honoured to accompany Rubio to Reliance Industries' Jamnagar facilities, one of the world's largest petroleum refining complexes.

"Over the past year, India's imports of US LPG have surged from under 10% to 67%, making the United States India's largest LPG supplier," Gor said.

The sharp increase reflects the expanding role of American energy supplies in India's import basket, as both countries seek to deepen cooperation in the oil and gas sector.

Gor also referred to Reliance's plans to invest in a new refinery project in the United States.

"Reliance's planned investment in the first new US oil refinery in 50 years is another major opportunity to expand American energy production and create jobs," he said.

The ambassador shared a photograph featuring Rubio and Reliance Industries Executive Director Anant Ambani at the refinery complex.

𝗥𝘂𝗯𝗶𝗼 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Rubio arrived in Jamnagar from Mumbai, where he had held wide-ranging discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday.

During the talks, the US Secretary of State urged India to expand bilateral energy trade and increase purchases of American technologies and defence equipment.

A day before his Jamnagar visit, Rubio described India as a crude oil refining "superpower" and advocated greater processing of Venezuelan crude at Indian refineries.

His visit, the second to India in five months, is aimed at strengthening cooperation across energy, trade, investment, defence and critical technologies.

The two sides also exchanged views on developments in West Asia amid continuing regional tensions.

𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱'𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀

Reliance Industries describes its Jamnagar facility as the world's largest and most complex single-site refinery.

According to the company's website, the refinery has a crude processing capacity of 1.4 million barrels per day and a complexity index of 21.1, reflecting its ability to process a wide range of crude oil grades.

The company says the complex has processed more than 216 grades of crude sourced from different parts of the world.

The integrated facility houses several major industrial units, including fluidised catalytic cracking, coking, alkylation, paraxylene, polypropylene, refinery off-gas cracking and petcoke gasification plants.

The visit comes as Washington and New Delhi seek to expand energy trade and investment, with American LPG exports and Reliance's proposed US refinery investment emerging as key areas of cooperation.