The geographies of national oil companies: From the spatial politics of resource control to our climate futures

Abstract

National oil companies (NOCs) produce over half of global oil and gas, control nearly 60% of reserves, and increasingly acquire assets divested by international oil companies. Despite their market significance and spatial footprint, NOCs remain underexplored in geographical scholarship. This article surveys the state-of-the-art in existing geographical research on NOCs, identifies key conceptual contributions, and proposes a forward-looking agenda. We highlight four core areas where geography offers distinctive insights, particularly by viewing NOCs as (i) instruments of resource nationalism and agents shaping national identity through territorial and symbolic practices; (ii) multiscalar, with influence at local, regional, and global levels, with specific ways of navigating global capitalism while shaping national and subnational political economies; (iii) hybrid entities that combine state sovereignty with business objectives and influenced by waves of privatization and neoliberal restructuring; and (iii) embedded in socio-natural relations, contributing to environmental degradation and social inequalities. We identify research gaps that geographic scholarship, through its focus on the spatial, political, economic, and environmental dimensions of energy, can help fill, particularly in advancing understanding of NOCs’ changing role in energy and climate futures.