The Shale Revolution, U.S. Imperialism, and Mexico's Energy Dependence

Mateo Crossa

U.S. imperialism has historically hinged on its control of global fossil fuel, leveraging it as a core mechanism of geopolitical power and global dominance. In the early twentieth century, the United States emerged as the world’s preeminent oil producer, embedding its imperial power in the structures of fossil fuel-based capitalism. Corporate oil giants such as the global cartel of the Seven Sisters (Standard Oil of New Jersey [Exxon], Gulf Oil, Texaco, BP, Shell, Mobil, and Chevron) were monopoly formations instrumented by imperial force, enabling U.S. industrial ascendancy and global influence. As U.S. fossil fuel production reached “peak oil” and domestic oil reserves declined since the mid-twentieth century, the United States shifted from extraction-based supremacy to an imperial mode of governance centered on controlling global fossil fuel-based energy flows. This strategic transition, which was accelerated by the oil shocks of the 1970s, marked a deepening reliance on coercive mechanisms: military interventions, regime changes, and economic manipulation in oil-rich regions, particularly across the Middle East and the Global South.

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