Trump Lauds India’s Reliance $300B Oil Offtake Agreement and Equity Participation in US Refinery
On 11 March 2026. US President Donald Trump announced that Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) will bankroll a new oil refinery in the USA, the first major refinery on American soil in half a century. America First Refining (AFR) Founder and Chair John Calce revealed that his company received an offer from Reliance in February 2026 for its oil refinery project in the Brownsville Port in Texas.
This announcement is a sort of ‘reversal of fortune’, since Reliance (NSE: RELIANCE) exited the upstream oil and gas business in the US in 2021, and Trump’s enthusiasm seems as high as his spirits in the US-Iran war.
According to the deal, Reliance will commit to a long-term 20-year offtake agreement that will offset some USD 300 billion in the US-India trade deficit. Thus, India will purchase US hydrocarbons, while the US will gain investment and jobs. Trump is especially thrilled, since he has been pressuring Modi to wean off Russian oil, and this project fits into his #AmericaFirst policy like a glove.
The cost of construction of the refinery is estimated at USD 4 to 5 billion. How much Reliance is contributing has not been officially disclosed, but it is surmised to be in the nine-figure range, according to sources close to the matter. Groundbreaking is scheduled for 2Q26, and operationalization is then expected by the end of 2027. When running at full capacity, the refinery will process 60 million barrels of shale oil and produce 2.5 billion gallons of refined petroleum every year.
In the past few decades, several new refinery projects were proposed in the US, but none saw the light of day. High costs, high environmental standards, and a global trend towards decarbonization were all factors. The RIL-AFR deal removes the risks and provides certainty with a long-term offtake agreement. Reliance is also eyeing the potential of exporting to emerging markets such as Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and even West Africa, in the future.