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Abstract
Economic geographers have largely shown concern about the interaction between extractive industries and local economies by studying how lead firms create economic linkages with national firms. From a global production networks approach, this work looks to deepen the understanding of interfirm dynamics in extractive industries. This work has a critical position over previous research, however, because such contributions do not consider how resources are socioecologically produced. This article shows that the socioecological relations that make natural gas an exploitable resource are critical to study the articulation between global and local firms. The contingent interaction between states, firms, and the biophysical properties of nature set up the conditions for interfirm dynamics because it creates (or does not create) a steady and continuous demand of services to perform specialized activities. This was the case in Bolivia where the neoliberal reforms of the early 1990 s, the massive involvement of lead firms, and the characteristics of natural gas deposits created conditions to develop industry-specific suppliers. Conversely, Peru has not been able to appraise its natural gas reserves and did not set up conditions for such suppliers. Therefore, the resource-making process is crucial for studying how global production networks and extractive industries are shaping the geography of uneven development.
通过研究主导企业如何建立与国家级企业的经济联系, 经济地理学者已经表达了对采掘工业和地方经济关系的顾虑。采用全球生产网络方法, 本文旨在深入理解采掘企业之间的动态关系。然而, 以前的研究没有考虑资源生产中的社会生态方面, 因此本研究具有重要意义。文章显示, 社会生态关系可以把天然气转变成可开采资源, 对研究国际化企业和地方企业的关系非常重要。国家、企业、自然的生物物理特征之间的相互作用, 创造（或没有创造）了持续、稳定的专业化服务需求, 也构筑了企业合作的条件。玻利维亚于1990年代早期开展了新自由主义改革, 其主导企业大规模的介入、天然气储量的特点, 构筑了工业供应商的发展条件。反之, 秘鲁没有利用其天然气储量、没有构筑供应商的发展条件。因此, 研究全球生产网络和采掘工业如何塑造空间上的不均衡发展, 资源的生产过程有很重要作用。
La preocupación de los geógrafos economistas por la interacción entre las industrias extractivas y las economías locales se nota en el estudio sobre el modo como las firmas líderes crean vínculos económicos con las firmas nacionales. Desde un enfoque de redes de producción globales, este trabajo pretende ahondar en el entendimiento de la dinámica entre firmas en las industrias extractivas. Sin embargo, este trabajo tiene una posición crítica en relación con la investigación anterior en cuanto tales contribuciones no consideran el modo como los recursos son producidos socioecológicamente. Este artículo muestra que las relaciones socioecológicas que hacen del gas natural un recurso explotable son críticas para estudiar la articulación entre las firmas globales y locales. La interacción contingente entre estados, firmas y las propiedades biofísicas de la naturaleza establecen las condiciones de la dinámica interempresarial porque crea (o no lo hace) una demanda sostenida y continua de servicios para la realización de actividades especializadas. Tal fue el caso de Bolivia donde las reformas neoliberales de principios de los 1990, el involucramiento masivo de las firmas líderes y las características de los depósitos de gas natural crearon condiciones para dar lugar a proveedores específicos para la industria. Al contrario, Perú no ha sido capaz de valorar sus reservas de gas natural y no estableció condiciones para tal tipo de proveedores. En consecuencia, el proceso de crear recursos es crucial para estudiar el modo como las redes de producción global y las industrias extractivas siguen configurando la geografía del desarrollo desigual.
Notes
1 Following Coe and Yeung (Citation2015), the industrial organization of global production networks involves the following actors:
Lead firms, which coordinate and control the production network. In extractive industries, lead firms are also called international oil companies.
Strategic partners that provide partial or complete solutions to lead firms, such as drilling in hydrocarbon industries.
Industry-specific suppliers that provide high-value modules, components, or products for the lead firm, their strategic partners, or both, such as well services.
Multi-industry suppliers that provide cross-industrial intermediate goods and services, such as construction firms or metal mechanical industry.
Generic suppliers, which provide standard low-value services or products, such as security, catering, or cleaning services.
2 Methane is the main hydrocarbon of natural gas.
3 The first empirical section provides more details about the natural gas industry in each country.
4 See for a comparison of the productivity of natural gas fields between Peru and Bolivia.
5 Movement Towards Socialism is a left-wing and indigenous political party in Bolivia.
6 Even though the official discourse affirms that the decrease in natural gas reserves is explained by technical problems of previous certifications and a change in the methodology, there is no consensus among specialized actors regarding whether the changes in contracts and lack of demand—due to the failure of Pacific LNG—influenced the number of certified reserves.
7 The core GPN/global value chains literature conceptualizes economic rent from a Schumpeterian perspective.
8 Even though there are many encounter points between the production of nature and resource materialities (see, e.g., Ekers and Loftus Citation2013), the literature about resource materialities has been more emphatic in acknowledging the role of nature in shaping social relations (see, e.g., Bakker [Citation2009] for counterpoints).
9 These are common units for trading oil and natural gas, respectively.
10 International oil companies usually work on both oil and natural gas extraction.
11 Even though there have been attempts to boost oil extraction in Peru—e.g., Talara and Loreto—hydrocarbon companies pointed out that Peru has failed in consolidating the industry within the country.
12 Exportation of natural gas from Bolivia to Argentina started in 1972 and finished in 1992, but it was resumed in 2004 and increased the amount of exports with the new pipeline (ANH Citation2013; Honoré Citation2016).
13 This long-distance commuting also has an explanation of the project’s design. Because Camisea is located in an isolated area of the Amazonia basin called Bajo Urubamba, which does not have a land transport connection, firms decided to develop an offshore-in-land project to extract the natural gas.
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Felipe Irarrázaval
FELIPE IRARRAZÁVAL is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Instituto de Estudios Urbanos y Territoriales at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and the Centro de Estudios de Conflicto y Cohesion Social (COES), Santiago de Chile, 7520245 Chile. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include global production networks of resource industries, geographical uneven development, and subnational politics, particularly in Latin America.