US Secretary of State Rubio Visits India to Press for Relief on Global Energy Crisis

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Mumbai on 20 October 2026 for a two-day visit to India, the India leg of a broader tour that also included Samarkand in Uzbekistan. He held talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar covering energy, trade, defence and emerging technologies, with a focus on easing the pressure on global energy markets intensified by the Ukraine war and ongoing conflict with Iran. Rubio then travelled to Jamnagar in Gujarat to visit Reliance Industries' refinery complex, the largest oil refinery in the world. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Rubio said he would ask Reliance to refine more Venezuelan crude as part of broader efforts to increase global oil supply and lower prices. The visit comes at a diplomatically sensitive moment: the US and India have been navigating tensions over tariff threats from the Trump administration and India's continued purchases of Russian oil despite Western sanctions. Rubio framed energy cooperation as a shared interest that could help stabilise both economies. The meeting was seen as an effort to deepen bilateral ties in a period of global resource stress, even as the two countries continue to disagree on Russia policy.