Marco Rubio’s India Visit: US Eyes Venezuelan Oil, Reliance’s Jamnagar Refinery in Focus

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By TRH Foreign Affairs Desk

The US Secretary of State’s October 17–22 trip comes amid discussions on energy cooperation, stalled trade negotiations, H-1B visa concerns and tensions over Starlink’s India entry.

New Delhi, October 14, 2026 — US Secretary of the State Marco Rubio will be visiting India this week as Washington seeks to persuade New Delhi to buy Venezuelan oils. Rubio will be visiting Jamnagar, which is one of the largest oil refinery centres of Reliance Industries. Rubio’s visit also comes at a time when India and the US bilateral relations have been seen to be sliding the slope fast.

US State Department on Tuesday announced that Rubio will “travel to Samarkand, Uzbekistan; Mumbai and Jamnagar, in India from October 17-22.” The statement also stated that India visit will have business interests on the agenda, including energy cooperation.

US President Donald Trump recently announced plan to buy diesel from Russia. Rubio’s visit to Jamnagar, per strategic analysts, may also be linked to urgency in Washington to arrange for petrol and diselel for the US as the fuel stocks dip to historic low. It’s not yet known if the Washington will take up the possibility of Indian refinaries processing Russian crude oil before shipment to the US.

India’s role in stabilising global fuel crisis has been in the spotlight in the past. Yet the US had resorted to curbs on purchase of the Russian oils per conveniences of geopolitical interest of Washington.

At the same time, Rubio’s visit to India is also accompanied with marked slide in the bilateral relations. The US announcement on curbs on Green Card processing has been seen as a negative measure for Indian professionals. Besides, the H1-B Visa remains a thorny issue between India and the US.

Also, the India-US bilateral trade deal negotiations, per the statement of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, have hit a plateau. She had said at the Munich Security Council that there’s not much space left for further give and take between the two nations.

Rubio’s visit to India is also coinciding with a surprising no-hold-barred attack by billionaire Elon Musk on Indian government for the alleged block on the entry of Starlink to India. Musk had also taken swipe at Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani. But Rubio on his India visit ironically will be travelling to an Ambani business hub.