TERRITORY, NETWORKS AND GLOBALIZATION: THE CASE OF OIL COMPANIES IN MACAÉ

Abstract

This paper investigates the spatial dynamics of large offshore corporations in Macaé, in the northern region of Rio de Janeiro, showing how the oil industry transformed the city into one of Brazil's main economic hubs, especially after the installation of Petrobras and the opening of the city to multinational companies such as Halliburton and Baker Hughes. The intense attraction of investments and companies led to accelerated population growth, rapid urbanization and reorganization of urban space, resulting in profound socioeconomic and environmental changes. Based on authors such as Castells, Santos and Corrêa, the study discusses the role of geographic networks and global business logic in the production of “luminous, highly integrated and technological spaces” and “opaque spaces”, marked by inequalities and precariousness. Methodologically, it uses the mapping of offshore companies and the analysis of the oil production chain to show how the internationalization of capital and the network structure of corporations reconfigure the economy, territory and local challenges of Macaé, accentuating both opportunities and contradictions typical of large contemporary oil complexes.