There is no substitute for oil resources in the Middle East. Many people who are not familiar with oil may think that as long as they find oil, everything will be fine.

As a result, oil is often relegated to a political issue, but it is ultimately an economic issue. To extract oil, you have to be able to make money. There are many better ways to get oil than to exploit it at a loss.

In terms of economy, the Middle East is truly blessed to the point of envy.

Even 20 years later, the cost of oil extraction in the Middle East is no more than $6, and in regions with well-developed infrastructure, such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, the cost of oil extraction is only $2, as if it were $100 for nothing. Twenty years later, the cost of onshore oil production in the complex geological conditions of the Shengli field is more than $25, shallow oil is more than $30, shale oil is more than $50, deep-sea oil is more than $70, and if Arctic oil is developed, it will cost more than $100.

Therefore, at the moment in 1988, the oil countries in the Middle East are absolutely profitable, and the onshore oil fields of other countries can only be said to be profitable, as for the crazy concepts of deep-sea oil, shale oil and gas, etc., until the 90s, they all belong to the stage of technology accumulation.

From an economic point of view, the oil of the Middle East is the real oil as it is understood.

By contrast, resources such as Canada's oil sands were chicken in 2000 and not even resources in 1988, and China has a lot of shale gas. Below 3,500 meters underground, it is 20 dollars more expensive than foreign ones, and by 2010 it was also accumulating. If Sioux City spends money to buy a piece now, after 30 years, he will be able to regret his intestines by calculating the bank interest.

If the Middle East oil fields are compared to high-yield paddy fields with three crops in one year, the Gulf of Mexico and other second-class areas belong to the dry fields with two crops in one year. Onshore oil fields such as Daqing can only be regarded as sloping land that can be used to make a living, and it is not an exaggeration to evaluate shale gas and other oil fields as uncultivated raw land.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran are among the countries with the best conditions. Among them. Saudi Arabia does not allow other countries to invest, and Kuwait is a small country with no room for exploration. Iraq and Iran have only just come out of the protracted Iran-Iraq war. The United Arab Emirates, consisting of only seven emirates, has the most open environment and abundant resources.

Sioux City was weak and did not spy on the Middle East oil fields.

But when an Emirati oil field was in front of it, and it had a slight advantage, Sioux City couldn't hold back any longer.

This is a shallow oil field in the UAE!

Sioux City doesn't remember which one, but no oil field in the UAE costs more than $10 a barrel and produces an outperforming amount of oil per day. Oil wells with a daily output of 1,000 tons are just idle, and it is not unusual for them to produce 10,000 tons per day.

The 20,000 oil wells in Shengli Oilfield only produce 30 million tons of crude oil a year, with an average daily output of less than 100,000 tons, which is only equivalent to the output of a thousand-person oil area in the United Arab Emirates. There are more than 150,000 employees under its jurisdiction, and the productivity and profit are naturally completely different.

Sioux City estimates that if it can explore an oil field with reserves of 100 million tons, even if it only has 30 years of mining rights, it will make at least a billion dollars......

If you think about it in this way, you can understand the enthusiasm of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and Ito Corporation.

Two days later. Sioux City came back from the negotiation hall and was passing through the hotel lobby when someone suddenly stuffed him with a book.

I went back and opened it, and sure enough, there was a miniature version of the tender book that Ichiro Ozawa got inside.

Sioux City was overjoyed. Because he shared a room with Wei Kong, he simply pretended to take a shower, turned on the shower, hid in the bathroom, read the full text of the bid, and then fell into deep thought.

This microcosm of the document is not so much a tender as a notice, and it is clearly collated, that is, it is likely that the information was transmitted orally.

In the tender documents, there is neither the address of the oil field nor the important information such as the time of exploitation. The only thing to say is three things: the official tender will be released at the end of December, and there is still nearly one month to go. Relevant technical requirements and environmental protection requirements required for the shallow sea where the oilfield is located.

3 messages, $30,000, it's really not expensive.

It's prime time.

Su Cheng stood up violently and headed straight for the embassy.

If the official tender is released and the whole world knows about it, then only the traditional super oil group will be ready to compete. The members of the second and third echelons, including Japan and China, will definitely be too late at that time. As for a technical enterprise like Dahua Laboratory, the most it is to transfer technology and earn another 30%......

If the winning bidder is a European and American company, this 30% is gone.

Sioux City's heart was pounding, desperately recalling the Middle East oil fields developed at the end of the 80s, and for a while he couldn't think of any answers.

For Chinese college students, that land is a little too far away.

But this did not hinder his desire to bid, and he finally got through Liu Bing's phone and told him about the matter from beginning to end, and said: "Mr. Liu, we now have an advantage." The main requirement of the UAE is to ensure zero environmental pollution in shallow sea oil drilling, which is in line with the technology of 'dripping oil without going to sea' developed for the Chengdao oilfield. Moreover, the shallow sea environment in the Persian Gulf region is also very similar to that of Cheng Island, with a water depth of no more than 90 feet, which is definitely within the working range of our shallow offshore oil rigs, which is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. ”

"Which countries know?" Liu Bing's voice was deep, but serious.

Sioux City thought for a moment and said, "I guess the UK must know, especially BP (British Petroleum), they are very strong in the Middle East, and they have developed the North Sea. France and the United States may know about it, but they can't say for sure. The Japanese know that it is because they took a British stake in an oil field in the UAE in the late 70s, about 30%, so they have established some relationships in the Middle East, but they are using British technology, and their own shallow sea oil technology does not meet the environmental standards required by the UAE. If we don't sell our technology to Japanese companies, they will have to work with European and American companies, and the chances of winning the bid will be much lower when the cost increases. ”

"Then what do you estimate the winning bid amount will be?"

"More than $30 million. More than 100 million yuan. "Sioux City is just talking about exploration rights. The later mining rights will have to be bid separately. However, the latter will not be harvested until the oil wells have been explored. Funds can be withdrawn through the sale of crude oil. The main investment is the acquisition of exploration rights and the construction of offshore drilling platforms. If it's like the Chengdao oil field. If five exploration wells are opened, the cost in the UAE is another 50 million yuan. If you're unlucky, you'll have to take a sixth bite. Seventh ......

Liu Bing breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Such a large sum of money must be nodded by the chairman and the general manager." ”

Su Cheng also knew this, and said solemnly: "Mr. Liu, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In addition to technology investment, we Dahua Industrial can also come up with 40 million yuan, I hope you will consider it. ”

He doesn't have 40 million yuan at all, but if he sells all the oil wells in China, it will be no problem to raise 40 million yuan.

Compared to the oil fields of the UAE. Those high-grade wells are also not worth mentioning.

Liu Bing said "hmm" and hung up the phone.

Su Cheng didn't expect a phone call to convince Liu Bing, he informed Lin Yonggui while buying a plane ticket, and at the same time went to Ozawa Ichiro. Ask him to gather more information for his return to China.

Bribery of Japanese politicians was rampant, and the end of the 80s was rampant. Not to mention selling news, it is not new to give news away for free.

A day later.

Sioux City once again set foot on Chinese soil.

Gorou prepared a car to get on the sea, picked him up, and asked, "Chengzi." Is something wrong?"

"Huh?"

"You came back from Japan alone and asked me to pick you up. Gorou smiled and said, "If it's not an urgent matter, you should be back in a few days." ”

"Well, it's a good thing, and maybe it's going to turn out to be a bad thing. These days, you've been running with me. Su Cheng looked at the street scene of the capital, which was very different from Tokyo, and said in a deep voice: "After the shipping company's accounts are sorted out, all the cash will be handed over to me, and if someone buys the ship, it will be sold at about the same price." ”

Gorou was taken aback and asked, "The shipping company didn't do it?"

"Yes. However, the first thing to do is to keep the main business. "Almost all of the cash accumulated in Sioux City has been invested in Dahua Labs, and now it is difficult to raise liquidity.

"Okay, I'll go back and sort out the accounts. ”

"Well, is it chubby?"

"Staying in a hotel, he said that he would not move his nest, and in the last two days, I have brought him food. ”

Su Cheng nodded silently, he knew why.

Xiaopang brought almost all his belongings over, almost 5 million. In 1988, this was higher than the financial revenue of a county, and he dared to leave a hotel in Bei*Beijing, where he was unfamiliar with his life.

The car drove all the way to the oil company, and Su Cheng went straight to Liu Bing's deputy manager's office.

didn't wait long, he cut in line to see Liu Bing.

"It's back. Liu Bing seemed to know that he was coming back.

"This is the original piece of intelligence I bought. "Sioux City mainly came back with these things, and he had a diplomatic stamp from the embassy on the outside of his briefcase.

Liu Bing still looked like a bald eagle, looked at it carefully, and then nodded, "This news is very important." However, the above is still considering ......"

"What else do you need to consider about the oil fields in the Middle East?"

"The political influence, the attitude of other countries, and the fact that it is a shallow oil field, if we can't get oil, more than 30 million US dollars of precious foreign exchange will be wasted. ”

"Being able to enter the Middle East oil circle is a dream of all countries in the world, and as for whether the technology of the Chengdao oilfield can be used, if you see the attitude of the Japanese, you will understand, as long as you give them the technology, the officials of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry are eager to lie down and lick our foot hair. ”

Liu Bing smiled and said, "I don't have foot hair, but we are different from Japan." The yen is on an upward trajectory and they are eager to use it all to buy overseas assets, China is still an exporter of crude oil, and if the investment in the UAE is not successful, it will have a very bad impact. ”

"It's not good not to do it. Su Cheng nodded clearly and said, "So, whether the technology of Chengdao Oilfield meets the requirements is the key?"

"That's right. The general manager will visit the Chengdao oilfield recently, and the specific time has not yet been decided. ”

"Okay, I'll get ready right away. Su Cheng left Liu Bing's office, but thought in his heart: I finally won less than 30 days, and I have to wait for the general manager's schedule...... The upper echelons are probably still doubting the authenticity of the information, if there is no oil field auction in the UAE in the end, or if the content of the bid is different. They were embarrassed. In this case, the investigation is of no practical significance, and other ways should be considered.

Bidding on foreign oil fields has never been easy. With such a huge stake involved, this is just the beginning, and Sioux City is already feeling the cobwebs sticking to his back.

Whether it is Liu Bing, the deputy general manager. He is also the general manager of the Petroleum Corporation, or the chairman of the board, or the Shengli Oilfield, or the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan, or the Ito Corporation of Japan, these are all behemoths that are several times stronger than him, dozens of times.

However, Sioux City felt that the fighting spirit was high. He suddenly had a feeling as if he had traveled through more than a year and done all the work. are all preparing for this moment.

"I may only have tens of millions of assets, not even enough for the cost of exploration bidding, let alone the cost of exploration and drilling, but I already have a starting point ......after all," Su Cheng thought and said, "Goro." Go to Dongzhimen, China Youth Daily. ”

Bei*jing Street, which is not congested with traffic, is pleasant and spacious.

When I arrived at the place, it was drizzling in the sky.

Su Cheng curled his neck, walked to the gatehouse, and paged the sixth son.

A moment of effort. The thin and dry six sons floated out like hanging noodles, and the six sons seemed to be thinner than when they were in the same dormitory.

"Isn't the food at the newspaper bad?" Su Cheng stepped forward and hugged Liuzi heavily.

"The time of eating is not fixed, and every time I go to a place for an interview, I have to drink alcohol first, and my stomach is going to be finished. The sixth son couldn't hide his joy, and said: "Why do you have time to come to Beijing, I heard that you have a big project in the Shengli Oilfield, called the offshore drilling platform, right?"

"Since you heard about it, why didn't you come to visit?" Su Cheng pulled him with a smile, and whispered: "I have something to do with you, can I go out?"

"Yes, let's go to the small restaurant in front. ”

Liuzi said that he took him to a small shop not far away, asked for beer and peanuts, sat down in the inner seat, and said with a smile: "What, do you have an inside story to break the news?" or do you have political achievements to publicize?"

"Both. Since Su Cheng came, he didn't hide it, described the whole thing, took out a copy to him, and said: "The original is handed over to the above, I now want to report on the Chengdao oil field and form a trend to offset the technical doubts above." ”

Liuzi was puzzled and said: "What's the use of this? Even if we report the success of your Chengdao oil field, it doesn't prove that you can produce oil in the UAE." ”

The transformation of this logical relationship made Su Cheng amazed and said with a smile: "It is worthy of graduating from the Chinese Department of Peking University." That's right, the success of our shallow oil drilling technology in Chengdao oilfield does not mean that we can produce oil in the UAE, or even meet their needs. However, if we can form an understanding through the media that the technology of our Chengdao oilfield has reached the world's advanced level, then the leaders will not have to worry about this, isn't it better than visiting and inspecting?"

"After the inspection, if there is a problem with your technology, it is the responsibility of the leader. However, if the media reports that your technology is excellent and something goes wrong, it is the media's problem, and you are helping the leader shirk responsibility. The sixth son looked at Su Cheng and smiled: "No wonder you are a big official, I am still a little reporter." ”

"If you want to talk about officials, I'm at the department level now. Su Cheng took a shallow sip of beer and said, "It's not okay if you don't help the leader shirk responsibility." Otherwise, they have to think about their own position first, dragging it around, the head office has a big business, and it is I who loses. Moreover, the technology of our Chengdao oilfield has indeed reached the standard, and if it were not for the urgency of time, we would not have used this method. ”

Xiao Liu still believed in Su Cheng, and said, "You give me the information, but I don't dare to guarantee whether the editor-in-chief can pass it." ”

Su Cheng coughed lightly: "Does your editor-in-chief have any hobbies?"

"You kid is fat, and you still want to corrupt the state cadres?" Xiao Liu snorted and said: "The editor-in-chief doesn't love money, corrupt him, you don't have to think about it, you corrupt me first for today's meal, and I'll go back to feed him." ”

Su Cheng smiled and said yes, and said: "There is a lot of information, you have to go to Cheng Island to see it for yourself." ”

"You're not rushing for time?"

"Booked you a plane for the night and fly back tomorrow night. If you are in a hurry, you can also fax in the middle. ”

"You want to use me as a mule, it just so happens that I've been a reporter for more than a year, and I haven't been on a plane yet, so I should be a foreign meat. Alright, I'll go back and ask for leave to pack my things. "The sixth son knew that the matter was urgent. He walked away, waved his hand behind his back, and trotted back to the newspaper office.

The next few days. Sioux City visited several classmates, seniors and teachers one after another. More than 10,000 yuan in cash was used to buy cigarettes and wine stuffed red envelopes, and it was quickly spent.

November 6.

An article on "China's First Shallow Sea Oil Drilling and Production Technology". It finally appeared on the second page of China Youth Daily.

Then, several newspapers and periodicals used relatively eye-catching layouts to reprint or track and report this article, but they made the six sons happy.

The newspaper's emphasis on exclusive reports comes from the demand for the number of reprints, and invisibly, this formulaic article has become a hard condition for the title of the sixth son.

Su Cheng didn't care about reporting to the company, so he bought a few newspapers. I went to the oil company again.

Because he waited for a long time, Liu Bing had already read the article, and when he saw Su Cheng, he asked, "Did you let you send it?"

Su Cheng did not deny it, saying: "The bottom-sitting drilling platform developed by our Dahua laboratory. Although it is not the world's top technology, it is very suitable for use in the Persian Gulf region. The report is true. ”

"It was a big decision. You must know that our country's foreign exchange reserves are only 3.37 billion, and it takes 30 million US dollars to win the bid, and the exploration cost between the winning bids. Have you calculated?" Liu Bing said and waved his hand, and said, "I know that the exploration cost of the Chengdao oilfield is only tens of millions, but you are lucky." ”

Su Cheng smiled and said: "The infrastructure in the UAE is very good, although I don't know the specific location of the oil field, but I calculate that if an exploration well costs $8 million, 8 wells are $64 million, all of which add up to $94 million." If you're lucky, you won't be able to use it. ”

"If you're unlucky, you'll have to use up one-thirtieth of the country's foreign exchange. ”

"As long as we can win the bid, we will definitely make money. Su Cheng affirmed: "Once the bid is won, if the country is unwilling to develop, I can raise my own funds to develop the oil field." ”

"Atmospheric. Liu Bing said that he believed it in his heart, and said: "Within the party committee, there is no opposition to bidding, but there are still questions about the form of bidding. ”

This is fresh ** inside information, Su Cheng took a deep breath and asked, "What do you think the final bidding form will be?"

"It's not decided yet. Liu Bing shook his head, but said, "What do you think?"

"Dahua Industrial, Shengli Oilfield, and an entity company designated by the head office, the head office is responsible for the overall situation, and Shengli Oilfield is responsible for specific matters. "It's the ideal model for Sioux City and it's how he can get the most benefits. It is impossible to monopolize such a large oil field, and it is impossible not to involve politics in foreign investment in oil fields, the British and American oil companies are deeply entrenched, and the oil company is a state enterprise, these are all advantages.

The Dahua industry here has become the Dahua industry of Sioux City, including the Dahua laboratory. If it can be invested in technology, Sioux City will not only be able to share the oil field capital, but also get a large amount of exploitation costs. In the Persian Gulf, the daily rent of an offshore rig can be tens of thousands of dollars, and mastering large quantities of oil can cause erosion upstream and downstream......

In addition, although Dahua Industry is not qualified to take the lead, Shengli Oilfield takes the lead, and Sioux City can still play a considerable role through Lin Yonggui......

Liu Bing just said noncommittally: "I understand, but it is still difficult to determine how the superiors will decide in the end." Well, the delegation is almost at the end of the visit, and Lao Zeng has already sued you twice, if there is nothing wrong, you can go back again. ”

Sioux City had no choice but to fly all the way to Japan.

This trip took another 5 hours, and the bumps on the road could almost shake people's bones apart.

Fortunately, Wei Kongyou came to pick up the plane, so that Su Cheng could have a good rest.

Wei Kong's mood was not high, and he asked Su Cheng a few words roughly, and suddenly said: "Commander Zeng, it is estimated that he will sign a contract with the Japanese." ”

Su Cheng suddenly sat up straight and said, "How is it possible, who allowed him to sign the contract?"

Wei Kong already knew about the oil fields in the UAE, and said softly: "Commander Zeng insisted on talking about the price of 26 million US dollars. His exact words, if the bid is successful, we will not suffer, and if the bid fails, we will not suffer a loss, and Japan is not the only country that bids. I estimate that he will report to the head office in the next two days, and then ask you to sell patents through the head office......"

Su Cheng's originally angry eyes were about to bulge out, but he suddenly calmed down at this moment, and said strangely: "He didn't report to the head office?"

"The attitude of the head office is relatively cold, and the head of Zeng insists on talking. ”

Su Cheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "This old man is really dazzled by his political achievements, regardless of him, I have to rest for a while." ”

After saying that, Su Cheng really fell asleep.

…… (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )