US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed India as a “refining superpower” during his visit to the country, as Washington seeks ways to ease the turmoil in global energy markets ahead of midterm elections.
Rubio on Wednesday is expected to tour Reliance’s oil refinery — the world’s largest — to push the facility to refine more Venezuelan crude. “We’re going to see what the holdup is,” he said, adding the move could provide short-term “relief” to energy markets under increasing pressure from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Relations between US and India relations have been strained over New Delhi’s hefty oil purchases from Russia, though Washington this week waived sanctions targeting buyers of Russian oil and gas.
— Tasneem Nashrulla