U.S. President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Indian energy giant Reliance Industries was backing a deal to build the first new major oil refinery in the U.S. in half a century, in what he described as "tremendous" investment.
Trump shared the deal via his Truth Social platform, saying that the company named America First Refining would construct the new facility at the Port of Brownsville, Texas.
"This is a historic $300 billion dollar deal – the biggest in U.S. history," Trump wrote, framing the project as a cornerstone of his energy agenda, but offering no details on the plan.
"Thank you to our partners in India, and their largest privately held Energy Company, Reliance, for this tremendous Investment," he said, without specifying the company's commitment.
Trump made the announcement as drivers react to spiking gasoline prices since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, and while Republicans and Democrats prepare for midterm elections that could determine which party controls Congress through the last two years of his presidency.
Reliance is India's biggest privately held conglomerate, and its Jamnagar refinery is the world's largest.
The America First Refining website says the company is a project of Element Fuels, which first announced plans in 2024 to build a Brownsville refinery at a cost of between $3 billion and $4 billion.
The facility would be the first refinery built on the Gulf of Mexico since the 1970s, and the only one designed to process 100% American shale oil, the company said.
The 168,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery will be built at the port of Brownsville and will offset $300 billion in the trade deficit with India, startup America First Refining said in a statement.
Reliance did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
"For the first time in half a century, the United States will build a new refinery designed specifically for American shale oil," said America First's chairperson and founder, John V. Calce.
Many Gulf Coast refineries are unable to process light, sweet crude oil from fracking shale fields because they were configured in the last 40 years to run lower-cost heavy, sour crude, which has higher density and contains more sulfur.
A "global supermajor" has provided a "9-figure investment" at a "10-figure valuation," America First said.
Trump named the investor as Reliance, India's largest private-sector company.
Reliance has signed "a binding 20-year offtake term sheet" with America First, meaning it will buy products the refinery produces. That will help cut India's trade surplus with the U.S., which has been a source of Trump's grievances.
America First said it plans to break ground in the second quarter of this year.
However, analysts were skeptical about the need for a new refinery on the Gulf Coast, which is already home to eight of the country's 10 largest refineries.
"Initial announcements like this by the Trump administration have a lot of hyperbole," said Refined Fuels Analytics managing director John Auers.
The new refinery will "fuel U.S. 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 said on Truth Social.
Gulf Coast refineries have advantages over plants elsewhere in the U.S., said Kloza Advisors principal analyst Tom Kloza.
"If Brownsville is indeed the location for the build, I would assume that they are looking at an export refinery," Kloza said. "There is not much local demand and there are not pipeline connections to take Brownsville product elsewhere."
U.S. refineries are the major suppliers of motor fuel and heating oil to South America, Kloza said, and have lower costs for natural gas, hydrogen and domestic crude oil.
"Let's see what develops," he said. "Reliance is a very successful company."
Reliance operates the 1.4 million bpd refining complex in Jamnagar, India, the world's largest. The firm, which reported $125 billion in revenue last year, also operates businesses in retail, new energy, digital services, media and entertainment.
Since late 2025, two California refineries with a combined capacity of 284,000 bpd have permanently closed, citing the state's regulation of fossil fuel industries.
The cost of construction of refineries or additions to refineries in the past decade has averaged about $40,000 per barrel of capacity, or about $6.7 billion for 168,000 barrels.
U.S. refining capacity was 18.4 million bpd at the end of 2024, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is set to grow through a gradual increase in capacity into the 2030s, Auers said.
