it was not until august 6th, 1997 that the city took a turn towards even greater economic prosperity when the brazilian national government passed a law effectively breaking the oil monopoly controlled by petrobrás - petroleum interests from around the globe poured into the city, with 276 offshore oil production companies established in macaé by the turn of 2011.

over the course of the 10 years preceding, macaé experienced significant population growth of roughly 600% - the rich natural resources in macaé have forever transformed the city into not only the national petroleum capital of brazil, but a major oil production center in south america and the world.

every two years, macaé plays host to the brazilian offshore fair, ranked as the third largest oil industry convention in the world - business tourism in macaé is growing approximately 6% to 9% per year, accounting for nearly 70% of all tourism activity in the city.