Chapter 1370 Thank you to Big Brother for his selfless blood transfusion (Third update, please subscribe)
The office building of the U.S. Commercial Representative Office located on the side of the street seems to be no different from the surrounding buildings.
In fact, this is an illusion. Passers-by can only see five floors and a stepped roof platform here, but they do not know that there are another three floors deeply buried in the soil.
In one of the basements, Frank, who had been browsing information for a while, was stopped by a local young man as soon as he stepped out of the elevator and walked to the lobby above.
These lively young men, some of European descent and some of Asian descent, usually run errands here and serve as footmen and messengers. "Mr. Frank."
The young man with mottled hair gasped and said,
"Mr. Caddell wants you to go to his office immediately."
"Tell him I'll be there in a minute."
"At once, sir."
Frank couldn't help but feel a little unhappy when he thought that less than half of the 400 workers in this building were Americans. The others were almost all locals, and the secret work they were allowed to do through loyalty checks was only the most boring and stereotyped chores.
Whenever they need to recruit new recruits, they submit one copy of the candidate's resume and name to the local security department for approval, and the other to the CIA workstation, and they can quickly get the review conclusion. In his opinion, this itself shows that this seemingly cumbersome procedure is actually very simple.
But what purpose does such loyalty scrutiny serve?
With this thought in his mind, Frank walked into the elevator and reached the top floor.
"Frank!" Cardel pointed to a cushioned armchair next to the large desk. He sat down on another chair, looked at his subordinates with bright eyes, and said:
"Tell me everything you know about Donghai Steel. I'm talking about the large-diameter oil pipelines they produce."
"Donghai Steel..."
Frank began his narrative,
"It was probably founded near the end of the war. In the early days, its equipment mainly came from the defeated countries. But later, they introduced more advanced equipment and invented advanced processes such as oxygen top-blown converters. With these advanced technologies, it became a local scale The largest, and in the world, the largest steel company
In the past ten years, they have been important partners of companies such as U.S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel. They purchased machinery and equipment from these companies, introduced technology, and ultimately relied on U.S. steel technology to create what is now Donghai. Steel.
The large-diameter oil pipeline is the technology they introduced from the United States Steel Company. ”
Since the boss is interested in this issue, is it definitely related to "Batumi"'s embargo on Russia? Thinking of this, Frank added:
"Given the current embargo, the Russians will definitely try to get oil pipelines from here. After all, at present, the Russians' own production in this field is almost symbolic and not worth mentioning."
"Not trying, but definitely!"
Kader gestured impatiently.
"Those businessmen here, as long as they have money, they are even willing to sell everything. You have to talk about the real issues."
"Substantial issue?"
Frank said directly:
"The real question is how long does it take for us to find out, sir, that until they have not materially violated the ban, there is almost nothing we can do."
"Yes, that's the biggest problem."
Kader took out a cigarette, lit it, took a puff, and said:
"One side needs these steel pipes, and the other side needs to sell the steel pipes it produces. They will definitely reach an agreement."
"So? Sir."
"So..."
Kader's casual question revealed an aggressive tone.
"So, we need to have information about this. Who signed the contract? How did they deliver the steel pipes to the Soviet Union?"
"Do you have any friends or acquaintances there?"
Facing the boss’s inquiry, Frank said:
"We can always find friends whenever we need them."
Nodding, Kader said:
"Then find a friend. Only by mastering this information can you plan the next step."
"Next step, next step, what do we need to do?"
"Do nothing!"
"What? Do nothing?"
"Yes, do nothing!"
Kader said with a firm tone:
"What we need now is to grasp these situations and get the evidence in our hands. This is the most important thing."
Looking up at Kader, Frank said curiously:
"Why is this?"
"Because of the U.S. dollars! Because the Russians need U.S. dollars, and oil is their best way to obtain U.S. dollars." Frank said:
"With their activities around the world, their demand for foreign exchange is increasing, and the absolute volume and proportion of oil exports has grown rapidly. Ten years ago, they only exported 3.7 million tons of oil, accounting for 5.2% of total production. By three years, 29.8 million tons will be exported, a high It accounts for 20.2% of the total production. Exports to the West have increased sharply. Currently, their crude oil exports account for 4% of the world's total sales, 70% of which are exported to the West, of which about 40% is purchased by Italy and West Germany. Purchased 30%
Yes, while NBC's oil company is exporting oil on a large scale, it is also importing a large amount of Russian oil. In order to seize the market, the Russians have made concessions on price and adopted a generally low-price strategy when selling to Western countries. , which is why they purchase Russian oil!
And this is why we ban the export of steel pipes, just to prevent Russia from obtaining petrodollars! ”
Looking at his boss, Frank said:
"If that's the case, then why don't we do anything? Let them violate the ban?"
"It's simple..."
He moved behind his chair and Kader said:
"Because we need the Russians to bleed?"
"What?"
Frank looked at his boss with confusion on his face.
"Frank, they can make airplanes, tanks, and send people into space. Do you think they can't make steel pipes?"
"They can definitely make it!"
"With our embargo, their steel plants will conduct corresponding research, and eventually, they will solve this problem, but not now. Now, they have to import large-diameter oil pipelines, and in order to break our embargo, the Russians need Spend more money.”
He took a slow sip of coffee and then said:
"At the same time, in order to occupy the share of oil and obtain more petrodollars, the Russians have to resort to low-price dumping. Do you know what the price of their exports to the West is?"
Frank replied immediately. "Last year, the price of oil sold by Russia to countries such as France, Italy and here was about US$10.25 per ton, with a maximum of no more than US$12."
"Yes, but you have to know that the oil they sell to Poland is US$21.97 per ton, Hungary is US$20.36, and the Czech Republic is US$22.58. You see, if they export 30 million tons of oil, they may earn 300 million, or even almost 4 billion in hard currency, but in reality?”
"Actually, they made $400 million less!"
Frowning his eyebrows, Frank thought for a while and said:
"Wait a minute, are you saying that every time the Soviet Union exports a ton of oil to the Western world, they are giving the Western world a blood transfusion, right?"
"Don't you think so?"
Kader looked at his subordinates and said in an extremely calm tone:
“For every ton of oil imported, the Western world receives a blood transfusion of about US$10, while for every ton exported by Russia, it is equivalent to a loss of US$10. They can export 100 million tons of oil through oil pipelines, but this is equivalent to a loss of US$1 billion. , and the Western world made $1 billion from it!”
Looking at Frank, who was frowning, Kader said:
"This is a gift from Big Brother!"
Since Orwell wrote a book many years ago, they have sometimes used to call Russia "Big Brother", but the tone is different.
“Because of our ban, they have to spend more dollars to get large-diameter oil pipelines, and every dollar they spend on that is one less dollar spent in the rest of the world, and in order to get the dollars, they have to Exporting more oil, and in order to compete for the market, they have to lower prices and dump. What happens in this cycle? ”
Although he was a little proud, Kader still tried to keep his tone softer.
The two were silent for a long time.
"I said,"
Frank couldn't hold back and spoke:
"This shouldn't last long, maybe ten, fifteen, or twenty years, but they can't export oil at a loss forever and give money to others."
"Why not?"
Kader said:
"Don't forget, the oil in the Middle East is in the hands of the Western world, and the United States also exports a large amount of oil every year. In this case, if they want to occupy the market, they must dump it at a low price. Otherwise, they can only watch the West. The world doesn’t buy his oil…”
Shrugging his shoulders, he added:
"It's like everyone is used to your low prices. If you try to raise the price again, it will only arouse other people's dissatisfaction. Then they will consider other places, so they cannot afford to take this risk. ”
It has to be said that all of them understand human nature, or understand the basic rules of market operation.
After thinking for a while, Frank asked again:
"So do we need to turn a blind eye to this? I'm talking about the export of steel pipes to the Russians in violation of the ban."
"How is this possible?"
Kader looked at his subordinates and said: "How could we turn a blind eye to this matter? This is the handle they brought to the door. We may not use it now, but who knows in the future? So we need to keep an eye on them and master everything. The evidence. At the appropriate time, take out this evidence and fight back against them. Therefore, it is your responsibility to have good evidence.”
In fact, this is the basic way of dealing with each other - both parties will try their best to use each other's leverage, but they will only use it at the most appropriate time.
(End of chapter)