After leaving the equipment company, Bradman and Graeme contacted officials from the ministries of industry of the countries who are currently negotiating with the equipment company in Beijing to introduce coal-to-liquid technology through various relationships, and from them, they confirmed what Xu Zhenbo and Chen Mo said, that is, several countries, including Australia, intend to introduce this technology. Of course, for such a large project, each country will not decide to introduce it casually, and it is normal for it to drag on for three or two years from the initial contact to the final signing.

"It was the Chinese equipment industry company that sent us an invitation to learn about their newly developed technology. "After we arrived in China, we listened to the introduction of experts from the National Petrochemical Design Institute of China, and in a few days, the equipment company will organize us to visit several petrochemical machinery manufacturing enterprises to inspect their production capacity." The Chinese side promised that the coal-to-liquid technology they provided could control the price of refined oil products at US$650 per tonne based on current coal prices. ”

"Do you believe in that promise?" Bradman asked.

"We brought several petrochemical technology experts, as well as experts from the United States and Peru to the Chinese project, and after carefully analyzing the Chinese production process, they believe that the Chinese commitment is based on the evidence," Garrard said. Even if the final production process is not as perfect as the theoretical design, it is absolutely certain that the price of refined oil products will be controlled in the range of $750. ”

"However, the latest technology in the world can only reach the level of 1,000 US dollars. Graeme reminded.

Garrard nodded and said in an appreciative tone: "You're right, in the past, we learned about the technical situation that we can control the cost to about $1,000. So, this time we saw the technology provided by the Chinese, and we were all shocked. I spoke to experts at the Sinopec Design Institute, who said that since five years ago, the Chinese government has invested no less than $3 billion in research and development of this technology. Selling cakes is really the biggest investment in the field of coal-to-liquid development. ”

"Five years ago......" Bradman groaned as he clutched his cheeks, his wisdom teeth aching again. Five years ago, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) secured a $20 billion loan from Middle Eastern oil tyrants to build three 10-million-ton refineries. At the time, OPEC ministers were convinced that the Chinese would be locked in OPEC's oil supply, and that the three refineries specializing in high-sulfur oil would have a heavy dependence on Middle Eastern oil, which meant that OPEC had more say in China.

But who would have thought that when the refinery started construction, the Chinese government invested a huge amount of $3 billion in coal-to-liquid research. That is, they were aware of the dangers of dependence on Middle Eastern oil from the very beginning and were well prepared. Bradman could even imagine that the $3 billion invested by the Chinese government was saved because of loans from Middle Eastern oil tyrants.

What a deep layout, Bradman felt a wave of resentment in his heart.

In the early years, the governments of Western countries also had some foresight, and were able to carry out industrial layout ten or twenty years ahead of schedule, and they were also able to endure waiting for a long time without seeing benefits. But over the years, politicians and ordinary people have become more and more short-sighted, and everyone thinks about having fun in time, and who will be willing to pay the price for the future. In some countries, people even want to eat more food and overdraft their future. The most frightening thing is that this trend of thought is spreading across the continent, and as a direct consequence, the party that best serves the immediate interests of the people has the best chance of winning the election, and this is exactly what they have adopted since they came to power.

In contrast, the Chinese have been painstakingly accumulating for the long-term future. Fifty years ago, when their per capita income was less than $100, they cut back on food and clothing and established a relatively complete industrial system through the "156 key projects". Twenty years ago, when their per capita income was less than $300, they formulated an ambitious plan for the development of major technical equipment, with the goal of forming an independent equipment manufacturing capacity in the fields of chemical industry, metallurgy, electric power, and communications, which has reached the world's advanced level.

For such an opponent, OPEC is really a little too underestimated.

"Mr. Garrerd, is the Australian government interested in bringing this technology from China?" Graeme asked.

Garrard smiled slightly and said: "Yes, in view of the rising international oil prices, Australia, as an oil importer, has to consider alternative oil options. The Chinese side has promised to provide us with a turnkey project, and the project cost is within the range we can afford, so the Chinese government is positive about the introduction of this technology. Of course, if there are new changes in the international crude oil market, we may also consider other options......"

Speaking of which, he handed the two OPEC officials a secretive look, whether they can understand this hint depends on the other party's understanding.

Bradman and Graeme did this, so they couldn't understand each other's hints. Bradman hesitated and asked, "Mr. Garrerd, what level do you think your government will abandon this project when the price of oil has reached?"

"Coal-to-liquids technology is very important to Australia and there is no way our government can afford to abandon this project," Garrard said. However, if the international oil price reaches more than $40 per barrel, our government may be more anxious to move forward with this project. ”

That's the art of talking, and he doesn't promise to abandon the coal-to-liquids project entirely, but the latter sentence suggests that if the international oil price falls below $40, the construction of the coal-to-liquid project may be postponed indefinitely. The government's decision-making is the result of a balance of interests, and in the case of rising oil prices, enterprises and residents will have a greater incentive to ask the government to launch coal-to-liquid projects, and the government will naturally have to make a statement in order to please the people. But if the price of oil is within the range that everyone can afford, and the cost of coal-to-liquid is higher than that of petroleum refining, then the incentive of all parties will disappear and the government will not bother to renew the incident.

"However, according to our calculations, even if the international oil price reaches US$60, it is still uneconomical to use the Chinese process of coal-to-liquid. Is Mr. Garrerd's $40 an underestimate?" asked Graeme.

Garrard shrugged his shoulders and said, "Mr. Graeme, you should think again about the Australian government's concerns about energy security." In the case that the cost of coal-to-liquid and petroleum refining is almost the same, Australia, as a country with abundant coal resources and relatively scarce oil resources, would rather spend more costs to promote the implementation of coal-to-liquid projects. ”

"But the $40 limit is too low, OPEC cannot ignore the interests of oil-producing countries, and too low oil prices are not conducive to the economic development of oil-producing countries. ”

"We can understand OPEC's concerns, but we also hope that OPEC understands our concerns. Especially in the past six months, OPEC has adopted an irrational production restriction policy, which has led to a rapid rise in international oil prices, which has made China's industrial sector feel a serious crisis. ”

"We apologize for this. OPEC will hold a congress in the near future to discuss stabilizing crude oil production and exports. ”

"We are very much looking forward to OPEC's new policy. ”

The conversation ended in a cordial and friendly atmosphere, and Garrard put Bradman and his party in a taxi and watched them leave, secretly smug in his heart. At the invitation of the China National Equipment Industry Corporation, he came to China to inspect the coal-to-liquid project, but in fact, it was just a pretense to put pressure on OPEC to consider increasing production and limiting prices. A new coal-to-liquids project, with an investment of billions of dollars, involves all kinds of troubles such as land acquisition and environmental protection, and also harms the interests of oil companies and oil refiners, all of which have huge lobbying capabilities outside the hospital. This kind of thankless thing, unless the Ministry of Industry is full of food and support, why rush to push it?

The rise in international oil prices has affected the Australian economy. To put it simply, due to the increase in oil prices, the price of sea freight has also risen sharply, and the CIF price of iron ore, copper ore and coal exported from Australia has also risen, which has affected the competitiveness of Australia's mining industry. Suppressing international oil prices is a top priority for the Australian government. Garrard made a trip to China and made it look like he was going to import coal-to-liquid units from China, and OPEC officials came to sue for peace.

If OPEC can agree to increase production, keep oil prices down, or at least keep them at current levels and not continue to rise, Garrard is more than happy to promise Bradman not to introduce coal-to-liquids units for the time being, but certainly not never. If you put such a choice in your own hands, you will have the capital to wrestle with OPEC, so why not?

Bradman and Graeme in the taxi looked at each other, they also went to amateur drama school, how could they not know that Garrard was also a drama master. They put the words out and waited for OPEC to make a statement. You can control the price of oil, and people will keep it down. If you can't control the price of oil, people don't need to really start construction, as long as you initialize a cooperation agreement with the Chinese side, believe it or not, the international crude oil futures price will fall to the bottom?

Can OPEC afford to play such a game? In the past, it may have been able to play it, because after all, oil is the blood of industry, and mastering oil means holding the lifeblood of global industry. However, the breakthrough in coal-to-liquid technology has discouraged OPEC by more than half. Of course, coal-to-liquid cannot replace all oil, but the problem is that OPEC does not have all the world's oil resources. If coal-to-liquids can reduce global oil demand by two percent, OPEC's oil-producing countries will collapse.