Mex­i­co’s recent ener­gy reform (2013) has pro­vid­ed the foun­da­tions for increased pri­vate par­tic­i­pa­tion in attempts to off­set or reverse the coun­try’s con­tin­ued decline in fos­sil fuel pro­duc­tion. This coun­try is cur­rent­ly on path to becom­ing a net ener­gy importer by 2020. Con­verse­ly, in 2015, and for the first time in over 20 years, the Unit­ed States (US) became a net oil exporter to Mex­i­co. One of the strate­gies being pur­sued by Mex­i­co to pre­vent an impend­ing supply–demand ener­gy imbal­ance is the devel­op­ment of shale resources using hor­i­zon­tal drilling and hydraulic frac­tur­ing tech­niques. Hence, an eval­u­a­tion of the inher­ent risks asso­ci­at­ed with hydraulic frac­tur­ing is cru­cial for Mex­i­co’s ener­gy plan­ning and deci­sion-mak­ing process. This paper draws lessons from the recent ‘shale boom’ in the US, and it ana­lyzes and sum­ma­rizes the envi­ron­men­tal, social, eco­nom­ic, and com­mu­ni­ty impacts that Mex­i­co should be aware of as its nascent shale indus­try devel­ops. The analy­sis seeks to inform main­ly Mex­i­can pol­i­cy mak­ers, but also aca­d­e­mics, non­govern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tions, and the pub­lic in gen­er­al, about the main con­cerns regard­ing hydraulic frac­tur­ing activ­i­ties, and the impor­tance of reg­u­la­to­ry enforce­ment and com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment in advanc­ing sus­tain­abil­i­ty. Fur­ther­more, using the US as a case study, we argue that devel­op­ment of uncon­ven­tion­al oil and gas resources in Mex­i­co could lead to a short-term boom rather than to a depend­able and sus­tain­able long-term ener­gy sup­ply. Our analy­sis con­cludes with a set of rec­om­men­da­tions for Mex­i­co, fea­tur­ing best prac­tices that could be used to atten­u­ate and address some of the impacts like­ly to emerge from shale oil and gas development.