This essay argues that control of the global oil trade is a core instrument of U.S. power, underpinning dollar-based finance and coercive diplomacy. It frames sanctions, blockades, asset seizures, and regime-change operations as tools to keep rivals and non-aligned states dependent on energy routes, pricing, and payments channels dominated by the U.S. and allied firms. The text links this to the petrodollar system: oil priced in U.S. dollars, settled through Western banks, with surpluses recycled into U.S. financial assets. It claims that as U.S. industrial strength erodes, leverage shifts from positive inducements to choke points, disruption, and threats of force, extending to demands over how producers use oil revenues. It also argues that renewable energy threatens this model by reducing oil dependence, and that U.S. opposition to decarbonisation is partly strategic: preserving energy leverage and monetary primacy.