The person who met Feng Xiaochen was a deputy director of the Development and Planning Commission, named Han Hong, and Feng Xiaochen had also dealt with him in the past, so they were not strangers to each other. Feng Xiaochen received a call from Wang Zhenbin, saying that Director Han wanted to talk to him, but Feng Xiaochen did not dare to delay at all, and asked Han Hong which time was convenient, so he came to the Development and Planning Commission at the agreed time.

"Haha, Mr. Feng is here, I have lost my welcome, please don't be surprised. ”

As soon as the two met, Han Hong made such a joke. It is actually very cold to joke about a subordinate like this as a leader, and no subordinate dares to accept such a joke. Feng Xiaochen was not Han Hong's direct subordinate, but he didn't dare to accept it either, he shook hands with Han Hong, and pretended to be full of panic, saying: "Director Han is criticizing me, I haven't come to report to Director Han for a long time, I really deserve death." ”

"Where, you Xiao Feng Ke has been helping us with the Planning Committee, and giving us advice, we thank you for being too late. Han Hong shook hands with Feng Xiaochen, made a gesture, motioned for Feng Xiaochen to sit down, and said with a smile.

Feng Xiaochen sat down and said, "I know that our equipment company has caused a lot of trouble to the Development and Planning Commission, no, I hurriedly came to admit my mistake to Director Han?"

"You are not wrong, on the contrary, you are our great hero. Good guys, $22 billion in low-interest loans, you talked to us as soon as your upper lip touched your lower lip, but it helped us a lot. Han Hong said.

Feng Xiaochen said: "Director Han has won the award, but in fact, the main work is done by my senior brother Director Wang. ”

"This is mainly because Director Han is well directed, and we are just running errands. When Wang Zhenbin saw that the words came to himself, he hurriedly became humble and put the credit on the leader.

This humility is also a regular action on the scene, everyone knows that it is not interesting, but it is not exempt from vulgarity, otherwise the other party will have some opinions about you. After saying these boring polite words, Han Hong introduced the conversation to the main topic and said: "Xiao Feng, I invite you to come over today because some time ago you submitted a report to the Development and Planning Commission through Zhenbin, hoping that we will approve the construction of a 4 million ton coal-to-liquid project. We have asked experts to review your report, and they all agree that your plan is feasible, the objectives are correct, the technology is guaranteed, and the economy is reasonable. Subsequently, we asked the central leaders for instructions, and the central leaders pointed out that the coal-to-liquid project is of great significance to ensuring our country's energy security and competing for the commanding heights of international energy technology in the future, and instructed the Development and Planning Commission to seriously discuss and approve the project as soon as possible. ”

"The central leadership is really strategic, far-sighted, and pointed out the direction of our work. Feng Xiaochen said a cliché.

Han Hong didn't pay attention to Feng Xiaochen's compliments, he continued: "We have been in contact with several state-owned super-large coal companies, and several of them have a lot of interest in this project and hope to build it with their own leadership. The NDBC's consideration is that the NDTPC will provide part of the funds, and the coal enterprises undertaking the project will contribute the other part of the funds. At present, the funds on the side of the coal enterprises have been implemented, but there are still some problems with the funds on the side of the Development and Planning Commission. ”

"Wouldn't it?" Feng Xiaochen said, "The Development and Planning Commission originally planned to invest 60 billion yuan to build an oil refinery, but now that it has a loan from the Middle East, the 60 billion yuan has been saved, and it is not difficult to spend 1 or 20 billion yuan on coal-to-liquid projects, right?"

Han Hong said: "Originally, there was indeed this consideration, but recently there has been a little change, and the funds for other projects may be overrun, if you can't control it, you can only use the funds here to fill the gap." ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Feng Xiaochen with meaningful eyes, waiting for Feng Xiaochen to speak.

Feng Xiaochen had a wry smile on his face, he had long expected that Han Hong would definitely summon him not only to praise him in person, but to have other things to send him. The principle that those who can work more is valid everywhere. Feng Xiaochen is a well-known capable person in the system, and it is strange that the Development and Planning Commission seized the opportunity not to summon him.

"Director Han, can I inquire about which project is overspending?" Feng Xiaochen asked. Of course, he could also pretend to be deaf and dumb and wait for Han Hong to say it himself. But after all, people are leaders, and Feng Xiaochen still has to give the right side.

Han Hong said: "The project of the West-East Gas Pipeline, this project your equipment company also participated. ”

"It turned out to be this project...... Feng Xiaochen nodded, probably understanding what was going on.

The West-East Gas Transmission Project is one of the largest projects carried out by the country, with an investment of more than 200 billion yuan in the first phase, and the second and third phases in the follow-up, which is almost a bottomless pit. However, the significance of the west-to-east gas pipeline is also very large, it can transport natural gas from western China and Central Asia to the economically developed areas in the east through pipelines, which has a huge impact on China's energy security and environmental protection. Twenty years later, China embarked on the largest environmental campaign in its history, using natural gas instead of coal across the country to reduce PM2.5 emissions, the foundation of which can be traced back to the West-East Gas Transmission Project.

There are many pieces of equipment involved in the remote transmission of natural gas, the most important of which is the natural gas compressor. A few years ago, Feng Xiaochen was instructed to go to Yubei to guide state-owned enterprises out of difficulties, and helped Yubei Heavy Machinery Factory, the largest enterprise in Yubei, find a fist product, which is the natural gas compressor used in the west-to-east gas pipeline. A team led by the young engineer Jiang Yan, after several years of hard work, has come up with a prototype of the compressor, and the performance in the experiment is also very good, but it is not mature enough and has not yet entered mass production. For this reason, in the equipment bidding for the first phase of the West-East Gas Transmission Project, Yuzhong's compressor failed to be shortlisted, and it is three foreign companies that are currently bidding.

"The three companies that have already quoted their prices, such as Seamanz in Germany, Tongyong in the United States and Shuangluo in the United Kingdom, are 70% higher than we expected. We wanted the price of each remote compressor to be within $80 million, and their quotations were more than $140 million, and we would have to overspend $1.2 billion on the first phase of 20 compressors alone. Han Hong said bluntly.

"Are the quotations of several companies the same?" Feng Xiaochen asked.

Han Hong said: "There is not much difference, and they all claim that there is no room for negotiation. Obviously, they are in collusion with each other. ”

Of course, there is a basis for the NDRC to be able to make this judgment. Natural gas compressors are decades-old products, and their prices are relatively transparent. The technical requirements of the compressor vary in each project, and the price will vary somewhat, but this difference is to be expected. When the NDPC first made the project planning, it conducted extensive research and proposed a budget of 80 million US dollars per compressor on this basis, which is relatively reasonable.

After the project was approved, the Development and Planning Commission organized several groups of people to go hand in hand to solve various problems in the project. For example, there are those who specialize in implementing land acquisition tasks, those who contact the construction team, and those who are responsible for equipment procurement. Most of the equipment involved in the project can be provided in China, some of which are the equipment company is responsible for organizing the production, and some of the equipment is not produced in China, or the performance and quality of domestic products can not meet the requirements, out of the attitude of being responsible for the project, it needs to be imported from abroad. The long-range natural gas compressor is one of the equipment that needs to be imported from abroad, and it is the equipment with the highest import price.

There are not many companies in the world that can produce long-range natural gas compressors, and the more famous ones are Ximanzi, Tongyong and Shuangluo. The purchasing team contacted the three companies separately, put forward equipment requirements, and asked each other for quotations. After two or three months of consideration, several companies successively quoted prices to the Chinese side, and the quotation of Ximanzi was 145 million yuan per unit, Tongyong was 148 million yuan, and Shuangluo was 152 million yuan, all of which far exceeded the advance expectations of the Development and Planning Commission.

"Is there anything wrong with the NDPC's negotiation strategy?" Feng Xiaochen asked tentatively.

Wang Zhenbin shook his head and said: "This is not a question of negotiation strategy. The strategy we adopted was also to split the inquiry, to have the three companies lower the price to each other, and finally bring the price to a level that we could accept. But who knows, these three companies are very clear about their respective quotations, the price difference between them is completely matched with the performance, and the cost performance is basically the same, leaving us no room for choice. ”

"So, are these foreigners smart?" Feng Xiaochen commented with a smile.

In fact, the routine of equipment bidding is open, that is, to use the competitive relationship between various suppliers to provoke them to lower prices with each other and reap their own profits. In the past, when Western countries purchased textile products and mineral products in China, they adopted such a strategy, allowing Chinese to compete on their own and drive down prices. In the process of purchasing technology and equipment from the West, China has gradually learned such a strategy, and has also achieved some results.

Himandz, Thongyong and Shuangluo belong to three different countries and are competitors in the market. China's West-East Gas Pipeline is a large-scale project that will last for many years, and these three companies have been coveting this project for a long time, and none of them want to be out of the project. It is precisely this that the Development and Planning Commission has seen this, so it threw out such a bait when bidding for the tender, claiming that it would adopt the winner-takes-all principle, and the selected company would not only be able to provide equipment for this phase of the project, but also automatically get follow-up orders. With the idea of the Development and Planning Commission, such a big order is enough for the three companies to bite each other, and China just needs to wait for them to bite out a result.

What people didn't expect was that in the face of the bait thrown by China, the three companies actually maintained great calm and did not make concessions in order to win orders. In the case that there is a price difference of nearly 60 million US dollars per unit, the three companies insist that there is no room for price reduction, and they would rather not do this business than compromise, which cannot help but make people speculate that there is a conspiracy between them.