Rubio to visit Ambani's Jamnagar refinery as US diesel prices surge

The State Department said Tuesday that Rubio will visit Samarkand in Uzbekistan before heading to Mumbai and Jamnagar in India between Oct. 17 and 22, with no stop listed in New Delhi. It is Rubio's second trip to India this year. According to the release, he will meet senior Indian officials and business leaders to promote commercial investment and economic cooperation.

US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor said Rubio would tour Reliance's refining complex in Jamnagar and suggested that billionaire Mukesh Ambani would meet the American official, telling Bloomberg, 'Given Ambani runs Reliance, I'd imagine he'd be there.' In a later interview with Indian outlet NDTV, Gor said the Jamnagar stop was arranged because of Reliance's 'incredible' investment in a US refinery project. Neither Reliance nor the State Department responded to CNBC's requests for comment.

The visit lands while the US contends with unusually high diesel prices before the November midterms, prompting the White House to look for ways to boost fuel availability. The International Energy Agency has cautioned that constraints in the diesel market will likely keep prices elevated into next year. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump paused sanctions on Russia to let Moscow's supplies reach the global market.

Arpit Chaturvedi, a South Asia adviser at strategic firm Teneo, told CNBC that Jamnagar's sizable export-oriented refining capacity makes a strong case for the US to explore refined-product supplies, including diesel. Experts told CNBC the administration is framing the trip around business deals rather than policy and politics, as voters remain focused on the economy.

Reliance, which is majority-owned by the Ambani family, is investing in a US refinery and has become the second-largest buyer of Venezuelan crude outside the US, even as Indian state-owned companies have largely declined Trump's call to buy more of it. In March, Trump thanked Reliance for its 'tremendous investment' in the first new US refinery project in 50 years. Atman Trivedi, a partner at DGA Albright Stonebridge Group, said Rubio will also highlight Reliance's plans for a large new refinery in Texas, a state hosting closely watched midterm races, adding that the company is well-positioned to sell diesel and other refined products to the US.

According to Reliance, Jamnagar is the world's largest and most complex single-site refinery, with crude processing capacity of 1.4 million barrels per day. Ambani's profile has also drawn attention abroad; SpaceX founder Elon Musk referred to him last week as the real boss of India.