ABSTRACT
Mineral geopolitics can involve the politicization of economic relationships and the use of legal and economic power, even military force, to maintain, to acquire, or to deny access to mineral resources. War may be the most obvious of the geopolitical processes, but more subtle, yet dynamic, forces shape political conditions in many potential or producing offshore petroleum regions. Offshore petroleum vividly demonstrates the intensity of contemporary mineral industry geopolitics. Boundary disputes, national leasing and ownership policies, taxation practices, environmental lawsuits, and international market conditions contribute to the flux of offshore geopolitical relationships between nations and within countries. Petroleum producers first exploited shallow-water seabed sources in 1896 by drilling from piers off the coast of southern California. Both Canada and the United States place much hope on the offshore's future as a source of petroleum, a hope clouded by several mutual boundary disputes.
