Why Rubio is seeking India’s help after coercion over Russian oil

The US diplomat’s India trip is about leveraging Mukesh-Ambani owned Reliance’s refining capacity to lower elevated global fuel prices After spending years pressuring New Delhi to cut back its Russian oil purchases, and isolate Moscow, Washington has now changed tack and is seeking India’s help to bring down elevated domestic fuel prices that are largely of its own making.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who skipped New Delhi entirely on his second visit to India this year, made clear what had brought him to the country – the massive refining capacity of Reliance Industries, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

“I’m also here in my capacity as the National Security Adviser,” Rubio said in Mumbai.

“Energy is related to national security … we’re going to go see a company that has a tremendous amount of refining capability.” President Donald Trump’s administration is showing a new urgency to bring down the high fuel prices that threaten Republicans’ prospects in November’s midterm elections.

US retail diesel prices reached a record average of about $6.32 a gallon on Tuesday.

American refineries are already operating at close to capacity, and Washington is working with India to increase refining output and bring more petroleum products to global markets, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in Houston the same day.

“Energy politics is inseparable from American geopolitics,” Jindal School of International Affairs adjunct professor and former Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Anuradha Mitra Chenoy told RT.

“The US is using energy as a geopolitical instrument, and that is central to understanding Rubio’s visit.” From Russian oil tariffs to Venezuelan crude Washington has regularly used energy sanctions to achieve its geopolitical aims.

First it took Iranian, and then Venezuelan, crude off the market with the threat of sanctions.

Since the Ukraine conflict began, Washington also pressured India to stop buying Russian crude.

The argument was that choking off Moscow’s oil revenues would help end the conflict, which is now in its fifth year.

READ MORE: Rubio in India: What the US secretary’s itinerary signals At the same time, the US continued to supply Ukraine with weapons and funds, and started a war with Iran that disrupted energy supplies from the Middle East.

New Delhi has maintained that providing affordable energy to its 1.4 billion people is central to its oil-purchasing decisions.

India imports about 85% of its energy requirements, and Russia remains one of its biggest sources of oil.