A doctor who travels through two eras

Chapter 903 Oil Available, But No Refinery

Lin Sanqi glanced at his watch; it was almost 11 p.m., which should have been late at night in the 1960s when there was no nightlife.

"Sir, how about we talk about it tomorrow? Calling someone now would be disturbing their sleep. What if Minister Zheng and his wife are doing... well... wouldn't that be a sin?"

Commander Cao spat and said, "He's over sixty years old, good-looking but useless. Why is he still paying taxes? Let Old Zheng come over here."

In the early days of the People's Republic of China, cadres from all walks of life came from the Red Army, so the military and civilian systems were connected and everyone was an old friend.

There are many cadres like Lin Sanqi who hold both military and political positions; it's not uncommon.

Leader Jing dialed the number, and it took a while to connect.
"Hey, Lao Zheng, did I disturb your sleep? What? You can't sleep? Okay, okay, come to my place right now. Comrade Lin Sanqi from Bao'an County is with me. Yes, okay..."

Leader Jing put down the phone and smiled, "Here it comes."

Half an hour later, the door to Leader Jing's office was pushed open, and an elderly man with gray hair, wearing a military overcoat, rushed in:
"Hiss, ha, it's so cold! This heavy snow is really good. A good snow promises a good harvest. Next year will definitely be a good harvest."

As soon as Minister Zheng entered, he looked around and, seeing Lin Sanqi, stretched out his hand from afar:

"Lin Caishen, oh my, we've finally caught a big fish like you today, hahaha."

Lin Sanqi was being grabbed and shaken vigorously, so he joked:

"Minister Zheng, you should at least pretend a little. Calling me the God of Wealth so blatantly makes me feel guilty."

Let me make it clear first: every gain comes at a price. After all, I'm a fake God of Wealth, not a real one, and my house isn't overflowing with gold and silver. So, prepare your chips before you sit down at the table!

Minister Zheng was taken aback. As a seasoned cadre, he wouldn't blush easily; he simply chuckled sheepishly.
"That's right, that's right. As long as Comrade Sanqi is willing to help us, we'll give you whatever it takes. No problem at all."

Lin Sanqi breathed a sigh of relief. Taking advantage of the fact that the two sides were not familiar with each other, he set the tone for their first meeting: he could help with "smuggling," but he would definitely not give it away for free.

Otherwise, once you've spent more time together and become familiar with each other, you'll feel embarrassed to ask for a discount.

He traveled to this era to monetize his online traffic and do some copying work as he could, but he couldn't bring himself to burn himself out and dedicate everything.

That's just how he is; he's from an urban village, so his perspective is limited.

After they sat down again, Minister Zheng took a big gulp of wine, then his eyes lit up, and he poured himself another glass, clearly having tasted the flavor.

Commander Cao said impatiently:
"Alright, alright, Lao Zheng, are you here for drinks or to talk business? You owe us so much gasoline, believe me or not, I'll smash up your Ministry of Petroleum's signboard."

Minister Zheng was not afraid of being threatened; instead, he grabbed a plate of peanuts and started eating them.

"Hey, I was so worried I couldn't sleep. My superiors ordered me to reach a refined oil production of 200 million tons next year. But now, with Comrade Lin Sanqi's help, I'm fully confident I can achieve it."

Lin Sanqi thought to himself that he didn't want to take on this important task. He was the vice minister of the Ministry of Health, not the vice minister of the Ministry of Petroleum.

"Minister Zheng, if you want my help, you need to tell me about the current state of oil refining in China."

Minister Zheng put down his wine glass and spoke frankly:
"Comrade Sanqi, let's be honest behind closed doors. We don't have a shortage of oil at the moment."

For example, the Baiyanghe, Shiyougou, Yaerxia, Karamay, and Yumen oilfields in Northwest China; the Nanchong, Penglai, and Guihua oilfields in Sichuan Province; and the Fuyu oilfield in Jilin Province, etc.

In addition, we discovered the Daqing Oilfield in the terrestrial sediments of the Songliao region. All of these oilfields combined are sufficient for our domestic needs. What we lack now is refining equipment.

The core issue is how to transform petroleum into refined products such as gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and heavy oil.

Lin Sanqi understood; this problem was just like the one faced by the major oil-producing countries in the Middle East decades later.

Have you noticed that when these countries export oil, they are basically selling crude oil, not refined gasoline?

Originally, the price of refined gasoline is much higher than that of crude oil. Since they are so rich, why don't they invest in building their own refineries to refine crude oil into gasoline and then export it?

Wouldn't that mean earning more money? Why do so few countries do this?

The reason is that the petrochemical industry has extremely stringent technical requirements. Only advanced industrial countries possess the technology for oil refining, and it also requires a lot of supporting power and transportation. There are only a few hundred oil refineries in the whole world, of which China, the United States, and Russia account for more than half, with the remainder being India, Japan, and South Korea.

The current predicament we are facing is actually the same thing: crude oil processing is a highly technological industry, and without the technical support of the Soviet Union, we cannot operate it well in China for the time being.

Lin Sanqi popped a peanut into his mouth before saying:

"The difficulties you mentioned have already been analyzed by several leaders. However, I have a question and concern: if we can acquire the oil refinery, do we have the professional technicians to operate the entire production line?"
After all, I have a medical background and don't know much about oil refining. Besides, in my impression, oil refineries are enormous, and at night, with their lights on, they look like cities that never sleep.

What came to Lin Sanqi's mind was the spectacular scene he witnessed when he passed by the Zhanjiang Petrochemical Plant during his trip years ago.

Its size is comparable to that of a small city.

Minister Zheng, a former military man, preferred direct questioning, and explained:
"Currently, the largest oil refinery in China is Lanzhou Petrochemical."

We invested 59 million RMB in 1.8.

The entire infrastructure project covered 40 square meters, installed equipment weighing 1.3 tons, laid 860 kilometers of pipelines, and completed 200 million cubic meters of earthwork, making it an unprecedented project.

Therefore, Comrade Sanqi, we have experience and the determination to develop the petrochemical industry. Even without money, we will tighten our belts and get the oil industry up and running. Don't worry about us being worthless.

Lin Sanqi was calculating in his mind again: 1.8 million RMB, at the current exchange rate of 1:2.4, is equivalent to 7500 million USD.

However, the annual output is a pitiful figure of only 40 tons.

If Lin Sanqi hadn't transmigrated, the entire national treasury's foreign exchange reserves wouldn't even be enough to build an oil refinery; they were truly impoverished.

Minister Zheng continued, looking at Lin Sanqi with a serious expression, and said:
"As for engineers and technicians in the field of oil refining, you don't need to worry about them either, Comrade Sanqi. When the Russians came to support us back then, we already arranged for a large number of technicians to learn from them."

Although the Russian experts suddenly left, and we still only have a vague understanding of many principles, there are no problems with practical operation. At worst, we can explore for a while longer. Our comrades are not afraid of hardship.

Of course, it's best to have a complete instruction manual and technical template first, hehehe.

Lin Sanqi slapped his thigh, feeling confident:

"That's good. As long as there are workers and engineers who know how to operate the production line, I can rest assured. Otherwise, I would be completely lost. Talent is always the most valuable asset."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room instantly sobered up, their eyes fixed intently on Lin Sanqi.

Minister Zheng asked excitedly:

"Comrade Sanqi, you mean, you really have a way to get an oil refinery? How big is it? What's the approximate annual output?"

Lin Sanqi didn't know how to answer immediately, since in another timeline, large and medium-sized oil refineries typically operate on a scale of tens of millions of tons.

For example, Zhenhai Refinery in Zhejiang Province has a crude oil processing capacity of over 5800 million tons per year and has 42 refining units and 18 petrochemical units.

One of these behemoth oil refineries could solve the nationwide gasoline and diesel supply shortage in an instant, and even have the capacity to export and earn foreign exchange.

Moreover, developing the oil industry has another major benefit: it can develop the oil industry chain, solve employment issues, and provide urgently needed domestic supplies.

For example, the upstream process involves the exploration, extraction, and preliminary processing of oil and natural gas, including drilling, oil extraction, and oil and gas field development, which requires a large workforce.

The midstream segment encompasses crude oil processing and refining, producing refined oil products such as gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, as well as basic chemical raw materials such as ethylene and propylene, which in turn requires a large number of skilled workers.

The most important downstream processes include the production of plastics, synthetic rubber, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals, which are widely used in daily life and industrial fields.

Especially this fertilizer, isn't it exactly the kind of material that our agricultural society urgently needs right now?

Only when fertilizer production increases can the harvest in the fields increase, which in turn ensures that everyone has enough to eat and meets their basic survival needs.

With this in mind, Lin Sanqi made up his mind to go to another time and space and bring over a complete oil refinery. If he couldn't get a new one, a second-hand one would do.

(End of this chapter)