# How the US uses oil as a geopolitical weapon

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-economy-report-5434689/how-the-us-uses-oil-as-a-geopolitical-weapon
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-economy-report-5434689/how-the-us-uses-oil-as-a-geopolitical-weapon.md
Podcast: [Geopolitical Economy Report](https://stenobird.com/podcast/geopolitical-economy-report-5434689)
Published: 2026-04-30T14:12:40+00:00
Episode link: https://soundcloud.com/geopoliticaleconomy/oil-geopolitical-weapon-iran-war
Audio file: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2312127329-geopoliticaleconomy-oil-geopolitical-weapon-iran-war.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/geopolitical-economy-report-5434689/episodes/how-the-us-uses-oil-as-a-geopolitical-weapon
Duration seconds: 2236

## Resource

Oil has been at the center of the war on Iran. Ben Norton explains how the United States became the biggest oil producer on Earth, and how the US empire uses petroleum as a geopolitical and economic weapon, pushing for monopolistic Big Oil corporations to dominate the global market. Ben also discusses why Trump pressured the UAE to withdraw from OPEC, and he debunks the myth that the USA is "energy independent". VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh-E3q6tGEw Check out our related video on the biggest oil crisis in history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUdyPJM_rOw Topics 0:00 Iran war and oil 0:36 Petrodollar 1:52 USA is biggest oil producer 3:39 US oil exports increase 4:32 Oil price skyrockets 5:03 Corporate profits rise 5:37 Strait of Hormuz 6:30 UAE withdraws from OPEC 7:31 Abraham Accords 8:37 OPEC history 9:14 Seven Sisters: Big Oil 11:01 OPEC members 12:13 OPEC+ participants 13:18 Goal of OPEC 14:25 State-owned oil companies 15:12 Why USA dislikes OPEC 16:56 Oil is political 17:18 Venezuela economic war 19:06 Big Oil execs in US govt 20:55 Cuba oil blockade 22:29 Energy and food crisis 23:36 US "energy independence" 25:06 US oil imports 26:12 Types of crude oil 27:26 US oil refineries 28:47 US imports by country 30:36 Oil benchmarks 32:47 Oil futures market 33:53 Price predictions 36:04 Economic crisis fears 37:02 Outro

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