US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the United States wants to play a significantly larger role in meeting India's growing energy needs, endorsing New Delhi's strategy of diversifying its energy supply base while arguing that deeper India-US cooperation can reinforce long-term energy security. Rubio made the remarks in an interview at the White House on 27 June.

Rubio's Core Position on India Energy

The Secretary of State said Washington was well-placed to support India's expanding energy requirements as both nations deepen their strategic partnership. “I think obviously India's been focused for a very long time on diversifying its sources of energy, and so I think that trend will continue and we certainly would love to be a part of that,” Rubio said. “We think we have some solutions in that regard.”

Rubio linked Washington's energy ambitions to President Donald Trump's broader effort to ease tensions in the Middle East and stabilise global fuel markets. “One of the reasons why the President has given peace a chance in the Middle East is the desire to see more fuel enter the marketplace for our allies,” he said.

Venezuela Crude: A Potential New Supply Line

In a notable disclosure, Rubio pointed to Venezuela as a potential future crude source for India, saying the US was actively working to expand the country's production capacity. “I know India's been talking to not just the United States, but Venezuela. We're working very closely to increase their production capacity,” he said.

He highlighted India's refining infrastructure as a strategic asset in this context. “India's one of the few countries in the world with their ability to refine the heavy crude that Venezuela produces. So I think that's a thing we would look to facilitate as well,” Rubio added. This is a significant signal — Venezuelan heavy crude requires specialised refining capacity that few nations possess, and India's refineries are among the rare facilities globally equipped to handle it.

Shared Strategic Interests Beyond Energy

Rubio framed energy cooperation within a wider architecture of India-US strategic alignment, citing economics, supply chains, critical minerals, security, and freedom of navigation as shared priorities. “These are the largest democracies in the world and the oldest democracies in the world,” he said. “I think we have so much aligned and in common that we can build and work on together our interests on economics, on supply chains, on critical minerals, on energy, on security, on freedom of navigation. These are all issues that bind us together.”

India's Energy Context

India is among the world's fastest-growing energy consumers, steadily expanding its crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports to meet rising domestic demand. Diversification has become a cornerstone of New Delhi's energy security doctrine, reducing dependence on any single supplier or region. Energy cooperation has grown into a key pillar of the India-US strategic partnership, alongside collaboration in civil nuclear energy, clean energy technologies, critical minerals, and resilient supply chains.

Rubio's remarks signal that Washington intends to deepen this engagement further — and that Venezuela, long a geopolitical outlier, could emerge as an unexpected node in India's energy supply network.