Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 107: Oil Business is Not Just a Business

In two days and one night, Zheng Yi and Henry obtained the preliminary survey report of the Ghawar oil field. Davis and his men worked for two days and one night without closing their eyes.

"Mr. Zheng, the oil field is very large. Although the reserves have not been proven yet, the depth of the oil reserves should be at least one thousand meters.

The oil is of exceptional quality, and its lightness is rarely seen elsewhere. The costs of storage, transportation, and refining will be unprecedentedly low.”

Davis then took out a bottle of gasoline and showed it to Zheng Yi, saying:

"Using simple distillation and heating methods, we can directly extract gasoline of very high purity from it.

Judging solely from what has been discovered, this oil field is likely to be the purest and easiest to mine of all the discovered oil fields in the world. While its reserves are difficult to determine, it is definitely a large oil field."

Zheng Yi nodded when he heard this, and he couldn't help but feel happy in his heart. After all, the Chinese in Penang had a full 10% stake in this oil field, and he basically had the right to dispose of the money, and he personally owned 3% of it.

Moreover, Zheng Yi knew very well that Davis had not been able to fully explore the situation due to the short time. In fact, the reserves of the Ghawar oil field should be much larger than he imagined.

This is the world's largest oil field, and it is far ahead of the second largest.

But it doesn't matter. No matter whether he is the world's number one or the world's number two, Zheng Yi wants to cash out these stocks as quickly as possible.

Thirty or fifty million doesn't make that much of a difference to him. After all, they are both huge sums of money. When the amount reaches a certain level, it becomes just a number, and the money itself becomes less important.

The reason for cashing out is certainly not because he doesn't like the shares of this large oil field, but because he knows very well that this is not something he can take.

Who made him not have a strong motherland behind him? The world's largest and best oil fields are impossible to fall into the hands of a group of Chinese people.

An innocent man is guilty of possessing a treasure. After all, the imperialism of the 20th century was much more shameless than the United States of the 21st century.

It would be better to take advantage of this stage to sell these shares to those who really need and are truly qualified to own this oil field.

Of course, Zheng Yi’s first thought was Shell Oil, but Henry had no intention of taking all of his shares. After staying in Saudi Arabia for only a few days, the two of them took Henry’s private plane to Tehran, Iran.

When he got off the plane, he saw the entire airport covered with red carpet. Everywhere were beautiful women holding flowers, wearing cool yet revealing clothes. They came forward to give him passionate kisses, and a middle-aged man with a frown on his face came up to shake his hand.

"With Professor Zheng here in person, the whole of Tehran is ablaze with light tonight."

Henry introduced: "This is Sir John Cadman, the administrator of Persian oil."

Zheng Yi: "Hello, Sir Cadman."

Persian Oil, later known as British National Petroleum, or BP Oil, was, like Shell Oil, an unlucky company that gradually lost power after World War II as Britain lost its world hegemony.

He is even worse off than Shell. Just by listening to the name, you can tell that his strategic layout is mainly invested in Iran. And Iran after World War II...

Anyway, BP has basically bid farewell to the title of oil giant in modern times.

However, it was still before World War II. Although the British Empire, the British Empire, had been seriously inflated, it was still a tiger that would not fall down after its death, and Persian oil was still a giant in the world oil and gas market.

This company has the closest relationship with the British government and has great influence in the Middle East. To a large extent, John Cadman can even be the master of the Iranian royal family. To some extent, he is the most powerful person in Iran.

Of course, he was also the partner Zheng Yi chose for himself, and he planned to sell his shares in the Ghawar oil field to him.

Zheng Yi came here this time with the intention of obtaining cash funds by selling stocks, and the 1000 million US dollars from Standard Oil was an unexpected situation.

"Professor Zheng, you've come all the way here. Thank you for your hard work. Saudi Arabia is a shabby place with nothing but sand. Tehran is different. Here we have great hotels, delicious food, and exotic Persian beauties."

"Professor Zheng, why don't you take a break first? Tomorrow, Gulf Oil will send someone to Tehran to discuss this equity transaction with Professor Zheng. Why don't we just wait for them?"

Zheng Yi asked in surprise, "Sir Cadman, don't you want to discuss things with me before your competitors arrive?" Gulf Oil is an oil giant that mainly produces American oil, but it also has its own oil fields in the Middle East, mainly in Kuwait.

Therefore, when Saudi Arabia discovered what is likely to be the world's largest oil field, with super low mining costs and super high quality, and one of its owners even planned to sell part of its shares, it naturally became uneasy.

Therefore, after learning that Zheng Yi was coming to Tehran, the Kuwaiti representative almost rushed here without stopping.

Sir Cadman, however, looked indifferent and said with a smile: "In business competition, of course we have to wait until all the buyers arrive before we start negotiating the price. We still have to have this tolerance.
This way, please. The wind and sand in the Middle East are very strong. I asked the Iranian royal family to vacate their bathroom. Please take a shower first."

"The Iranian royal family? I need it? That's unnecessary."

"It's necessary, it's necessary. We're all family, so it's only right that we use it to entertain Professor Zheng. Please."

As he said that, he arranged for a group of beautiful women to lead the way, and asked him to take Li Lili into the car and head straight to the Iranian palace.

I was wondering why all these beautiful women picking me up at the airport were so pretty. Turns out they're actually maids from the Iranian royal family.

The Iranian Royal Palace is naturally the famous Rose Palace. The entire building is magnificent and majestic. It is definitely one of the most beautiful and luxurious buildings in the world.

The king was driven out and Zheng Yi was asked to go into the palace to take a bath. This way of hospitality really made Zheng Yi feel very uncomfortable.

Li Lili, who didn't speak English, was obviously confused when she heard that the place they were going to take a shower, eat and rest was actually the Iranian royal palace.

Knowing that Zheng Yi is awesome, he is very prestigious among foreigners, but it is really a bit scary that he is so prestigious.

Is this still a businessman?
"That Sir Cadman is quite a nice guy. So, so enthusiastic..."

Zheng Yi interrupted with a smile: "Do you think he is enthusiastic?"

"Ah? This... isn't it?"

"Why do you think he's not afraid of having the Gulf Oil people come tomorrow and negotiate the price with me?"

"Is it because he's... a gentleman?"

"What a bunch of gentlemanly bullshit! A few tens of millions of dollars worth of this, even with a slight discount, would be enough to cover the fiscal revenue of a small country for several years. How could such a gentleman be worth so much? He's convinced I can't sell my shares to Gulf Oil, only to him."

"why?"

"Because I came to Tehran through the introduction of Mr. Henry from Shell Oil. After all, Gulf Oil is an American company, and Malaya is a British colony."

"So... he asked us to come to the palace to take a shower and rest, is..."

Zheng Yi closed his eyes and said, "You are the King of Iran. If someone asks you to vacate the bathroom for guests, you must do so. How do you think my status as the Lord of Penang compares to that of the King of Iran in Southeast Asia?"

"They're being soft with a firm hand. It depends on whether I can understand the situation. It's just like me knowing that the Saudi oil field is a gold mine, but I dare not hold on to it at all.

I actually have no choice. Do you really think this oil business is just a business? Without a strong motherland behind you, you have no right to do this business.

Li Lili covered her mouth in shock: "So... So, it's actually like this..."

Because they both spoke Chinese, they were not afraid of being overheard even if they were plotting loudly.

But after Zheng Yi said this, the door of the Rose Palace, which had seemed so magnificent and dreamy in her eyes, looked like a man-eating beast with its bloody mouth opened wide.

(End of this chapter)