Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is possibly set to make one of the most consequential overseas energy investments in Indian corporate history, backing the US's first new oil refinery in half a century, right in the heart of Texas.
US President Donald Trump announced the landmark deal on Tuesday in a post on Truth Social, describing it as a "historic $300 billion deal — the biggest in US history." Trump credited "Reliance", which he called India's "largest privately held Energy Company" as the investment partner making the project possible.
Reliance Industries, India’s biggest publicly listed company, is yet to put out a regulatory announcement regarding the same. Shares of the company opened much higher but slumped to the red in morning trade on the NSE.
The refinery, to be built by America First Refining at the Port of Brownsville in South Texas, is reportedly being designed to run entirely on US shale oil and is projected to process 160,000 barrels of oil per day.
"A new Refinery at the Port of Brownsville will fuel US Markets, strengthen our National Security, boost American Energy production, deliver Billions of Dollars in Economic impact, and will be THE CLEANEST REFINERY IN THE WORLD," Trump wrote, adding that the project would bring "thousands of long-overdue jobs" to South Texas. Agencies such as Reuters also confirmed the announcement.
If Reliance Industries confirms the investment, it would be seen as a natural, if ambitious, extension of its core strength. The company already operates the world's largest oil refining complex at Jamnagar, Gujarat, a twin-refinery site with a combined capacity of approximately 1.4 million barrels per day. With a market capitalisation of around $206 billion, Reliance is well-positioned to anchor a project of this scale.
The announcement also comes at a time of the current global energy crisis, which many say was triggered by Trump himself.
Even as the Brownsville deal was announced, Reliance Industries filed a separate stock exchange intimation on the same day, confirming that it is maximising LPG output at its Jamnagar complex to support India's domestic gas supply amid the Middle East conflict, running its refinery teams around the clock to stabilise supplies for Indian households.