Trump says the U.S. will open its first new oil refinery in nearly 50 years as the U.S. military avoids bombing Iran’s oil infrastructure
“American energy dominance is back under President Trump” reads a White House statement on the administration’s latest effort to assert energy superiority, in a time when energy costs are soaring and oil stock is dropping. And now, Trump may very well keep his word, by going old-school: backing the first new oil refinery in the country in nearly 50 years.
As the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran drags into its second week and counting, Trump is feeling the pressure to look for alternatives to Middle Eastern oil supplies, and he may have just found one. He announced on social media on Tuesday that a new oil refinery will open in Brownsville, Texas, and India’s Reliance Industries, India’s largest privately-held energy company and the operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, is in talks to back the project.
The announcement comes as crude oil prices soared up to $114.38 last weekend, and as Trump voters continue to sour on high gas prices. The administration planned to make low gas prices a key win for their midterm election campaigns, but the war continues to undermine the president’s affordability agenda.
The new refinery could boost U.S energy independence and help keep its status as a net exporter of petroleum. In 2025, the U.S. exported an average 2.2 million barrels per day to about 170 nations, in addition to supplying 60% of domestic demands.
Strategically, the U.S. has been careful to avoid bombing Iranian oil infrastructure, even as the military struck about 5,000 other targets, including military vessels and weapons factories, The Guardian reported. Significant damage to Iran’s infrastructure—namely Kharg Island, through which 90% of Iranian oil exports travel through— would raise climbing oil prices.
Despite this, Israel hit multiple oil refineries and depots on Saturday, which covered Tehran in a blanket of toxic, black smoke. On Tuesday, Iranian officials threatened not to allow “even a single liter of oil” to pass through the Strait of Hormuz for the U.S., Israel, or their allies. About 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas is shipped through the strait, which leads to the Persian Gulf.
First refinery opening in 50 years
The new refinery is expected to break ground during the second quarter of 2026, according to the developer, America First Refining. The opening was “made possible through the leadership of President Donald J. Trump and the success of his America First energy agenda,” the company wrote in a statement.
The refinery is a same project that was being developed by Element Fuels Holdings, a Texas startup whose website now redirects to America First Refining. In June 2024, Element Fuels announced that site preparation was complete, and it was ready to construct a plant capable of processing about 160,000 barrels of oil a day. If completed, the refinery would be the first new project since a Garyville, Louisiana facility—owned by MarathonPetroleum Corporation (MPC), the largest refiner in the country which processes about three million barrels a day—came online in 1977, the Financial Times reported.
The president wrote on social media the project was “A HISTORIC $300 BILLION DOLLAR DEAL”.
Under the agreement with the India energy giant Reliance, America First Refining will purchase and process 1.2 billion barrels of U.S. light shale oil, worth $125 billion, the statement. The company expects to produce 50 billion gallons of refined oil products worth $175 billion, according to the statement. At the 2024 rate of 160,000 barrels a day, producing that much oil would take the company more than 850 years. America First Refining’s current contract to sell and tribute the fuels it produces is 20 years long, according to the statement.
Reliance’s owner Mukesh Ambani is an investor in Trump’s real estate firm, and even attended his second inauguration. Indian oil companies came under fire with the Trump administration last year after buying Russian oil instead of more expensive Middle Eastern oil. With the war, the administration has granted the country a 30-day waiver to buy Russian oil currently stranded at sea
As of 2025, the U.S. has 131 operating oil refineries, according to the Energy Information Administration. At the end of 2024, the U.S. refining capacity was 18.4 million barrels per day, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Since October, two California refineries with combined capacity of 284,000 barrels per day have announced plans to permanently close, citing the state’s regulation of fossil fuel industries, according to Reuters.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com