President Donald Trump has announced plans to build the first new oil refinery in the United States in 50 years, saying India’s Reliance Industries will partner in the project. Trump described the plan as a “historic $300 billion deal” and said the refinery would be located at the Port of Brownsville in Texas.
“Thank you to our partners in India, and their largest privately held Energy Company, Reliance, for this tremendous Investment,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. He also called the project “A MASSIVE WIN for American Workers, Energy, and the GREAT People of South Texas!” The refinery will be designed to run entirely on US shale oil, according to the company leading the project, America First Refining (AFR).
“For the first time in half a century, the United States will build a new refinery designed specifically for American shale oil,” said AFR chairman and founder John V Calce. AFR said the refinery will have a capacity of about 168,000 barrels per day. The company said it had received a “9-figure investment” from a “global supermajor” at a “10-figure valuation”, although it did not name the investor. Trump identified the investor as Reliance Industries. AFR also said it had “signed a binding 20-year offtake term sheet with the same global supermajor that secures commitments to purchase, process and distribute American-produced energy exclusively sourced from American shale oil”. Under the agreement, 1.2 billion barrels of US light shale oil valued at about $125 billion will be purchased and processed.
AFR said the refinery is expected to produce 50 billion gallons of refined products worth about $175 billion. “The US trade imbalance will improve by USD 300 billion,” the company said. Groundbreaking for the project is expected in the second quarter of 2026. Industry experts estimate the refinery could cost about $4 billion to $5 billion to build, although neither AFR nor the White House has provided official financial details.
The United States currently has 132 operating refineries with a combined capacity of about 18.4 million barrels per day, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Most of these facilities were built decades ago and are designed to process heavier crude oil rather than the lighter crude produced from US shale fields. Many Gulf Coast refineries were built to process heavier crude from countries such as Venezuela and Canada, which makes refining US shale oil more difficult. The Brownsville refinery would be built to process lighter shale oil from US production.
Analysts said Gulf Coast refineries have advantages because of access to shipping routes and lower energy costs. “If Brownsville is indeed the location for the build, I would assume that they are looking at an export refinery,” said Tom Kloza, principal analyst at Kloza Advisors. “There is not much local demand and there are not pipeline connections to take Brownsville product elsewhere.” He added that US refineries are major suppliers of fuel to South America.
“Let's see what develops,” Kloza said. “Reliance is a very successful company.” The project was originally proposed by Element Fuels, which prepared the Brownsville site in June 2024 for a hydrogen-powered refinery and secured permits to build a facility capable of processing about 160,000 barrels of oil per day. John Calce, who leads AFR, is also the chief executive of Element Fuels. The announcement comes as energy markets face pressure from the US-Israel war with Iran, which has pushed gasoline prices higher.
Trump said the new refinery would help fuel US markets, strengthen national security and boost domestic energy production. Reliance Industries has not yet issued an official statement about the project. Reliance operates the world’s largest refining complex at Jamnagar in India with a capacity of about 1.4 million barrels per day. The company has long-standing commercial ties with the United States through energy trading, technology partnerships and investments.
It previously invested in US shale gas assets and sells refined fuel in the American market. Reliance also sources crude oil and petrochemical feedstocks from US partners, while its digital and retail businesses have worked with American investors and technology companies. Companies including Facebook and Google have invested in Reliance’s digital unit Jio Platforms, while US investment firm General Atlantic holds a minority stake in Reliance Retail Ventures. The refinery project would mark the first oil refinery built by Reliance in the United States and the first major new refinery project launched in the country since Marathon’s Garyville refinery in Louisiana began operations in 1977.
