The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Sergei Razov was trembling all over.

Although it was snowing heavily outside, there was heating in the room.

But Sergei Razov felt cold and chilled.

His heart was trembling, his soul was even shaking.

Sergey Razov's body trembled continuously at the thought of the possibility of losing the entire Chinese energy market and losing a large amount of stable income every year.

The two sides signed an agreement that year, and China funded the construction of an oil pipeline and a gas pipeline across the two countries to transport oil and natural gas from Russia and the five Central Asian countries to China.

This is definitely a win-win cooperation and a model of friendship between the two sides.

Thanks to this cooperation, Russia can exploit oil and natural gas in the Far East and the five Central Asian countries, and earn a lot of income by exporting large amounts of oil and natural gas to China every year, which can be used to improve people's livelihood in Russia and Central Asia.

Every year, China pays its energy bills on time and in accordance with the agreement.

It is precisely because of such huge energy income that Russia and the five Stan countries in Central Asia can continuously import a variety of goods from China and maintain a trade surplus with China.

If we lose this part of income, what’s the point of talking about national economic development, people’s livelihood and social welfare?

Life was so difficult back then. It’s been less than ten years now, but everyone still remembers it vividly.

Sergey Razov has no doubt that once China stops importing oil and natural gas from Russia and the five Stan countries in Central Asia, Russia's economic development will inevitably be greatly affected. There is no need to talk about the development of the five Stan countries in Central Asia. The Americans will inevitably take action in the five Stan countries in Central Asia on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

It may even trigger the collapse of the five Stan countries in Central Asia.

Offshore oil and natural gas extraction is more expensive and requires more technical skills.

If someone else had said it, Sergei Razov would have just smiled.

But when Liu Tao appeared in the news, the meaning was definitely different.

Sergey Razov certainly knew about Liu Tao. After all, the two sides had been dealing with each other since the late 80s and had cooperated on many projects.

The oil and gas projects of the two countries are funded by China National Petroleum Corporation, which is only a second-level group of Panshan Group!
And everyone knows that Liu Tao is China's chief scientist.

Not to mention, Liu Tao’s importance.

"No, we have to report to Moscow immediately!" Sergei Razov picked up the satellite phone. He did not use a landline phone, but a satellite phone because it is more confidential.

Not only Sergey Razov, but also the ambassadors of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were shocked when they saw the seven o'clock news.

They were so shocked by the news that their hearts almost jumped out of their chests.

During this period, the five Stan countries in Central Asia have been playing very active games with Russia, using various negotiation methods to force China National Petroleum Corporation to make concessions and accept the price increase of oil and natural gas.

For this purpose, they even threatened to cut off oil and gas.

As the world's largest oil importer, China consumes a large amount of oil and natural gas every year. Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and South Asia almost all rely on refined oil and natural gas provided by Chinese refineries.

If we pull one hair out, the whole body will be affected.

As long as they agree to raise prices, even if it is doubled, the interests involved will be terrifying. After all, for oil-producing countries and gas-producing countries, the cost is constant, and even with large-scale mining and optimized management, the cost is actually decreasing. Once the price increases, the profit will become even greater, which is pure profit.

The reason why the five Stan countries in Central Asia agreed to maintain the same front and voice with Russia is not only because of historical reasons and Russia has a huge influence in the five Stan countries in Central Asia, but also because of interests, as most of these oil and gas fields are in the hands of Russians.

If the price goes up, everyone can make more money.

However, when China announced the expansion of its offshore oil and gas production, they had to consider one problem: they might lose the Chinese market, and their oil and natural gas would become worthless.

In recent years, as the prices of oil and natural gas have continued to rise, there has been a force behind the scenes that has been constantly hyping up the importance of oil and natural gas, saying, for example, that the world's oil will only be enough for another 50 years or even only for another 30 years, and that energy is the blood of modern industry.

It seems that no matter how much the prices of oil and natural gas increase, it is justified.

But you have to know that China has vast land and vast sea areas, and China also has rich oil and gas resources.

However, in the past, due to mining costs and rapid economic development, oil and gas production could not keep up with the growth rate, and it was necessary to import oil and natural gas from outside in a steady stream.

In fact, China's oil and gas production are also reaching new highs every year.

Theoretically, if China does not consider the cost, oil will be enough to meet the country's needs for 50 years. As for natural gas, it can last even longer.

If Russia loses the Chinese energy market, it can still rely on exporting oil and natural gas to Europe and survive, but it will not be as wealthy as it is now.

Once the five Stan countries in Central Asia lose the Chinese energy market, who can they sell their oil and natural gas to?

It can't be sold at all!

What scares them even more is, what if China gets angry and no longer takes mineral resources from them? What should they do then?
As soon as the news came out, European and American markets were still open, and international crude oil prices and international natural gas prices fell accordingly.

And it wasn’t just a little bit of a drop, it was a big drop!

All oil-producing and gas-producing countries held meetings to discuss countermeasures as soon as possible.

Affected by the US subprime mortgage crisis, the entire North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia, etc., were all dragged into the pit. Although countries have announced rescue measures, in fact there is no effect.

Although countries don't say it, the global financial crisis has already broken out.

Everyone's life is not so easy.

According to past rules, international energy prices will fall after energy demand decreases.

This is the real market law.

However, this year, international energy prices rose against the trend after a brief decline. There seems to be an invisible hand manipulating the market.

China has many channels for importing energy, not just one country. The decision on which country to reduce energy imports from is in China's hands.

After all, except for some countries that have signed long-term supply agreements, other countries do not have such an agreement.

As for the countries that have long-term supply agreements, some have made a lot of noise before, wanting to modify the agreements and raise prices.

This signal is not good! (End of this chapter)