In Angola 55 years, the first oil well was discovered in the Kwanza Basin.

In the decades that followed, they fought the Portuguese for the oilfield. After independence in 75 years, the two sides of the civil war have been fighting over the rule of the Kwanza Basin.

Jonas was well aware that they would soon discover the Cabinda coastal oil belt and the Lower Congo deep-sea oil belt.

Angola does not have large land-based oil reserves, but it is very rich in offshore oil reserves.

In 1987, Angola discovered the first offshore oil well with the help of the Soviet Union, and in '99, they discovered the first deep-sea oil well.

Soon, Angola became a member of OPEC because of its abundant reserves.

After the end of the civil war in 2002, dozens of international oil companies went on a development spree in Angola, making Angola the third-largest oil exporter in Europe, and later overtook Libya to become the second-largest oil exporter after Nigeria.

If there is an opportunity to participate in advanced oil exploration, Jonas will definitely not let it go.

In the entire oil industry, only the upstream exploration industry is the real profiteering.

Of course, oil exploration is also the most risky, not to mention the high exploration licenses, offshore oil exploration, the cost of an oil well is almost two million dollars, if ten oil wells are drilled and no oil is found, 20 million dollars will be thrown away.

And many times, it is not uncommon to drill a few times without finding oil.

But Jonas was different, because he knew where the oil was!

The Minister of Energy of the USSR said in German: "Jonas, there are currently only three companies in the world that can carry out offshore oil exploration, and offshore oil exploration companies are the most advanced. ”

After listening to Isabella's translation, Santos said in English: "Although Angola has received technical support from the Soviet Union, offshore oil has an irreplaceable role in offshore oil exploration. ”

Jonas nodded and asked, "So, what kind of cooperation are you going to use?"

Since the countries of the Middle East drove out Western oil companies and nationalized the oil industry, the world's oil exploitation has been divided into two main forms of cooperation.

The first is to authorize exploration, exploitation, and sales as a whole, and the country where the oil is located collects license fees, pollution control fees, and oil profits tax, including export taxes.

In this form of cooperation, the profits and taxes that can be obtained by the oil-host countries basically account for 50 to 70 percent of the total oil revenue.

Oil extraction companies, marketing companies, can get about 30 to 50 percent of the profits.

In Babylon, because some of the oil fields are so cheap to exploit, the oil companies only get a 10 percent share of the profits, and they are still willing to invest.

In other words, no oil company can get more than 50 percent of the oil profits.

The second, mainly technical cooperation.

Many oil-hosting countries do not have the technology to develop oil fields, and they are unwilling to let foreign companies develop oil, so they set up national oil companies, and then hire petroleum technical service companies to provide technical services and pay service fees.

The advantage of this approach is that most of the oil benefits can be retained in one's own country, but again, the risk is borne by oneself.

If hundreds of millions of dollars are spent without finding oil, it is possible to collapse a country's economy.

In Angola, for example, the country is still in a civil war, only a few large cities in the country have electricity, and 90 percent of the people still live in a primitive society without electricity and roads.

It is almost impossible for them to come up with hundreds of millions of dollars at once.

Sure enough, Santos said: "At present, we are ready to hire Soviet geologists to conduct a complete analysis of the sea area of our country's coastal zone, and deliberately divide the sea area of the coastal zone into several large areas and authorize it to the outside world." ”

Jonas asked, "Is it the right to explore and the right to develop at the same time?"

In some countries, the exploration right is separated from the development right, for example, only the exploration right is given to you, if you find oil, the development right does not belong to you, and you will only let the development company give the exploration company the corresponding benefits.

However, this approach is generally only suitable for land-based oil in the Middle East, where there are too many oil fields and the risk is low.

But now Angola wants to explore offshore oil reserves, and in this way, I am afraid that no one dares to invest.

"I'd love to separate, but it's not realistic, we're not Saudi," Santos said. ”

Jonas nodded and said, "If the exploration right and the development right are granted at the same time, no matter how high the license fee is, I will support Your Excellency." ”

It didn't look like a businessman's words, but it was done on purpose.

He and Isabella are classmates, and this is a very good opportunity, and having this personal relationship is there, and it is much more beneficial than calculating it.

Santos was president for 38 years, and until 2017, although he stepped down from the presidency, he still controlled the country's power.

Sure enough, Santos laughed when he heard Jonas's words. "Jonas, please trust our sincerity and generosity to our friends, you will not be disappointed. ”

His face became serious, and he added: "However, we need your transoceanic oil company to be our offshore oil contractor, not only for your own exploration, but also for our national oil company, to provide all technical services from exploration, offshore oil drilling, extraction to refining." ”

That's the point......

Although the Soviet Union has accumulated a lot of technology in land-based oil extraction, they have never set foot in offshore oil extraction.

Before the sixties, offshore oil drilling technology was firmly controlled by Western countries, but from Macridge to a catfish, it has disrupted the entire oil market.

In the 60s, Macridge spent ten years hiring hundreds of engineers from oil companies in Europe and the United States, and took advantage of the financial advantage to build his own drilling company.

In order not to compete directly with the major Western oil companies, they have targeted the oceans.

Over the past 20 years, Transocean Drilling Services (Offshore Oil) has built 19 subsea drilling mobile vessels and 52 offshore drilling platforms, becoming the world's largest offshore oil service provider.

Jonas now owns 40 percent of the company's shares, making it the company's largest shareholder.

Of course, he doesn't have control over the company at the moment, because it's still actually in the hands of Macridge, who doesn't have a stake in it.

Jonas nodded and said, "Transocean Oil is naturally willing to become your country's oil service provider, but your Excellency obviously has other considerations in terms of service fees. ”

Santos smiled: "Yes, we will not pay a penny, this money can be paid by Hoffman Investment Bank on behalf of you, at the cost of your company's licensing rights in our country." ”

Jonas pondered for a while and said: "Land-based oil extraction is obviously within the business scope of Soviet companies......"

Santos was not embarrassed at all, and said: "I know that offshore oil exploration is very risky, so I am willing to give your company an exclusive license for 20 years." ”

"Is it all the coastal waters of Angola?"

"If it's all sea, I'll only give a concession for ten years at most. ”

Jonas is well aware that Angola's oil is mainly concentrated in the coastal areas of Cabinda in the north and in the Lower Congo Basin, on the border with the Congo.

The Lower Congo Basin is a deep-sea oil that is currently too expensive to exploit. But counting only the oil reserves of the coastal zone of Cabinda is enough to satisfy the most greedy businessmen.

The oil reserves off the coast of Cabinda alone exceed 10 billion barrels, and the value of oil here is $250 billion based on the average international crude oil price of $25 per barrel in the 90s.

Even if Jonas earns only 40 percent, it's a $100 billion business.

Of course, the account cannot be counted like this, because it is impossible for him to extract all the oil. If he doesn't know how to share profits, he will only be overthrown and defeated by the world's major oil companies, even including partners.

Even so, Jonas was able to reap huge returns.

Of course, only Jonas knew about this, whether it was the Soviets or Santos, they didn't know that there were dozens of wells with large reserves in the sea not far from the coastline.

He glanced at Isabella and said, pretending to be embarrassed: "I am willing to provide development funds for your country, and I am willing to persuade transoceanic drilling companies to become service providers in your country, but all this should run according to the business model."

If Hoffman Investment Bank provides funding, we can't afford to put money in endlessly to set a risk warning line.

In addition, since the south of your country is still at war, I prefer to explore in the north of your country, as well as in the waters near the enclave of Cabinda, and I need a license period that complies with commercial rules. ”

Santos laughed: "I can give you a maximum period of twenty years, and if oil is found, it will be automatically converted into development rights." Every oil well must be drilled within five years, otherwise it is equivalent to giving up the right to exploit it. ”

Licensing rights are not the same thing as exploitation rights, licensing rights are permission for foreign enterprises to enter the area for geological research and oil exploration.

After the discovery of oil, it is automatically converted into development rights, and there is no time limit for this. Of course, in order to prevent foreign companies from holding oil wells and not developing them, wait for the price increase.

Therefore, countries have strict laws to limit this phenomenon, and five years is also a relatively relaxed condition.

Jonas nodded and said, "Okay, I will actively promote this decision, and by February next year at the latest, I will form a formal business team to negotiate with your country." ”

Santos smiled and stretched out his hand and said, "It's a pleasure to work together." ”

The Soviet representatives and Isabella next to him also laughed happily.

Jonas loves this kind of win-win business, and no matter how much money he makes, Santos will not hate him for it, just like investing in Dongying.

Of course, there is a common premise here, that is, we must know how to share benefits.

Walking out of Santos' room, Jonas still had a dreamy feeling. Are the oil fields of the countries with the largest newly discovered oil reserves in the future now in their hands?