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In September 2013, in Kazakhstan, with the sudden start of the commencement ceremony, China officially took over a large local oil field. Normally, for an energy-deficient country like China to get a big oil field, the Western world led by the United States should be pounding their chests and stamping their feet, but the reality is not the case.
When they learned that China had taken over and immediately started mining, the United States and Japan were very jubilant. They were all laughing at us, waiting for China to lose all its money. The reason is also very simple, just because they also wanted to take a share at the beginning, but for various reasons they gave up, now it has been taken over by China, the two countries are naturally disdainful.
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However, soon the United States and Japan could not laugh anymore. In just three years, the situation had taken a 180-degree turn! The problem that was not optimistic was quickly solved, and the oil output was getting higher and higher. Not only was it put into commercial production in 2016, but in the end, it even achieved the miracle of a daily output of 400,000 barrels!
This is undoubtedly a slap in the face of American and Japanese experts. So what is this all about? Why did the United States and Japan give up this dazzling treasure basin, and how did Chinese experts turn losses into profits?
The Kashagan oil field
The oil field that was belittled by the United States and Japan but successfully realized commercial value by China is not something else, but the Kashagan oil field near the northern city of Atyrau in Kazakhstan. Just by listening to this name, you can tell that it is a big oil field, and its scale must be extremely large. The fact is indeed the case. It can be said that this oil field is the largest one found in recent years after the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska!It is quite evident that people only know part of the story but not the whole picture. Kashagan oil field is indeed vast, but it also has many issues, otherwise it wouldn't have been overlooked by countries like Japan, the United States, and the Soviet Union, and we wouldn't have had the opportunity to take advantage of it, would we?
The term "Kashagan" actually means "untamed" in Kazakh. True to its name, the Kashagan oil field is indeed challenging to exploit. In fact, as early as the 1980s, several Soviet geologists had strongly suspected that there might be a large amount of oil resources underground near the area. The Soviet government took this very seriously and sent countless experts and teams for exploration. However, due to the limitations of technology at the time, all their efforts were in vain. The suspicions remained just that, with no substantial evidence to support them.
Helpless, amidst the internal and external troubles at the time, the Soviet Union had to give up halfway, and the matter was temporarily shelved. It wasn't until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union that the newly independent government of Kazakhstan brought up the idea of exploring oil fields again. This is understandable, as the collapse of the Soviet Union had a devastating impact on the economies of almost all the former republics. To save the growing fiscal deficit, it was necessary to increase revenue and reduce expenditures. For Central Asian countries, developing the energy industry is naturally the best way to increase revenue.
On this basis, the Kazakhstan government did not hesitate. They first conducted their own research and, upon realizing that their country did not have the technology and strength, they subcontracted the development and exploitation of the oil field to an Italian oil company, signing a contract for forty years, waiting for the other party to achieve results and enjoy the benefits.
However, it is regrettable that the reality is far from the ideal. After nine years, the company did indeed find a large oil field. In 2000, using advanced detection methods, they successfully discovered the Kashagan oil field near the Caspian Sea. After preliminary judgment, the oil reserves were also extraordinarily abundant, with at least 6 billion barrels. According to the crude oil price at that time, nearly 30 US dollars per barrel, the total value was close to 200 billion US dollars!
It can be said that as long as mass production can be successfully achieved, not only will the company make a fortune, but Kazakhstan will also benefit, and doubling its GDP is not a problem at all!
However, it is a pity that the gap between ideal and reality is too large. After years of effort, the Italian oil company still did not make any progress. The reason is simple: on the one hand, the severe winter in Kazakhstan limits the time for oil field development under the sea surface, with only two seasons available for development. When winter comes, the movement of the ice layer will cause huge damage to the equipment, and they have spent a lot of money just replacing the equipment, not to mention the time wasted.
On the other hand, although the Kashagan oil field has a large reserve, the impurities are also very high. The content of sulfur compounds far exceeds that of any oil field of the same scale in the past. Therefore, if commercial exploitation is to be realized, the sulfur separation technology of oil must be solved first. But it is also known that sulfur compounds are not easy to separate. They will not only produce flammable and explosive gases but also cause air pollution. To achieve harmless, low-cost, and safe separation, it was impossible with the technology at the time.There was no other way, this oil company had to continue to tackle the technology and find a new way. Fortunately, after thirteen years of exploration, the company's technical staff finally came up with a "clever plan" at the beginning of 2013. It was very simple: separate the oil refinery and the sulfur separation plant, one near the oil field and the other transferred to an artificial island through a pipeline, where waste and exhaust are treated a second time on the island.
It is clear that this way, the safety and environmental protection issues were solved. Seeing this situation, the company finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly put into production. It is no wonder that the oil field cannot be realized at the moment, and the company has to bear the cost at the moment. Now, thirteen years have passed since the contract was signed, and it has been paying without return for thirteen years. Even if the funds are strong, they can't stand such a toss!
Now, finally, they can see the money coming back, and it is understandable that they are excited. However, no one expected that just a few days after they were happy, the accident came again. The process of the matter is very simple, that is, the pipeline for discharging sulfur broke under the dual corrosion of seawater and waste, and tons of pollutants flowed directly into the Caspian Sea, causing huge economic losses, not to mention the destruction of the natural environment.
Upon hearing the news, not only Kazakhstan but the whole world was shocked. International environmental organizations and local environmental agencies rushed to the door to question and demand the company to compensate for a series of losses. Upon hearing this, the Italian company finally broke through the defense, not only did not earn a penny, but also lost hundreds of millions. Their accounts were already empty, so the person in charge simply chose to quit. Can't I just not play?
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the government of Kazakhstan contracted the huge Kashagan oil field to an Italian oil company. I thought I could rely on the other party to make money, but I didn't expect that after going through all the hardships, I saw that I couldn't realize it for a long time, and I lost a lot of money. The company simply chose to give up and return the oil mining rights to Kazakhstan.
In the previous article, under the huge pressure of public opinion and funds, the Italian oil company finally chose to give up after thirteen years of effort, and they gave up, and the government of Kazakhstan was directly dumbfounded. The reason is very simple. First, these years, I am not only waiting for the oil company to spend money, but the government and people of Kazakhstan are also looking forward to it. The whole country is looking forward to this money to improve life. Now the golden master has quit, and they are not painful.
Secondly, according to common sense, if the company doesn't do it, it's okay to find other companies to do it. Anyway, the oil field is still there, and the oil reserves are still strong. At most, it's not making money, and it's not necessarily a loss. But the problem is, who should be found to be this take-over person?It should be known that Italy is already a top player in the field of oil extraction, with few in the world being stronger than them, namely the United States, Japan, and Germany that can be ranked, but whether they are willing to take on this risk is an unknown.
Unable to do anything else, the government of Kazakhstan had to choose to open up for public bidding, hoping to attract a foreign oil extraction team to cooperate with more favorable conditions.
It's really not to say, this news really attracted the attention of many countries, especially the United States and Japan, which have a huge demand for oil, and they are sending experts to inspect the situation on the spot every three or five days. Seeing this, Kazakhstan was full of expectations, and they were waiting for these two countries with leading technology in the world to bring miracles to themselves and the Kashagan oil field.
However, it's a pity, it's still that sentence, the ideal is rich, and the reality is thin. After a long-term exploration by the United States and Japan, a conclusion was made, which directly made Kazakhstan fall from heaven to hell. It's very simple, just one sentence, that is, "According to our survey, although the Kashagan oil field has huge reserves, it does not have the value of mining with the current technical level."
Well, even the United States and Japan have made a conclusion, and for a while, people from all over the world have a number in their hearts. The major shareholders who chose to invest in the Kashagan oil field also chose to stop losses in time and hurriedly sold their shares, such as the major shareholder, the American Conoco company. They did not hesitate at all and were ready to sell the 8.33% of the oil field in their hands directly at a "fractured price" of 5 billion US dollars.
It sounds not cheap, but if you multiply the estimated total value of the oil field of 168 billion US dollars by 8.33%, compared with the expected profit of more than 10 billion US dollars, this price is really equivalent to selling.
However, although this is the case, is there really someone who dares to buy this internationally recognized waste project? In this regard, the government of Kazakhstan is very worried, especially after several unsuccessful investments, they have even had the idea of giving up, deciding to let the Kashagan oil field go its own way and turn to find other oil fields that can be mined.
In this way, the Kashagan oil field temporarily fell into a suspended state, and there were various opinions on its final ownership on the international stage. At that time, the vast majority of people thought that only countries with abnormal brains, such as India, would come to be the big head, and if there was no accident, it would continue to be idle for decades in the future, but the fact is not so.China Takes Over to Create a Miracle!
After the Italian oil company announced its withdrawal, the United States and Japan also made their final judgments, determining that the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan had no value for development. Upon hearing this, not only did no one dare to invest anymore, but many shareholders also chose to sell their shares at a low price. Seeing this situation, people thought that this large oil field might be abandoned, but the facts were not so. Soon someone chose to take over, and this country was none other than us!
Yes, that's right. While countries around the world were in a stage of watching and making fun, China directly chose to take action. First, it concealed its identity and spent five billion to buy 8.33% of the oil field shares from an American company. Then, avoiding the attention of the United States and Japan, it took advantage of Kazakhstan's right of first refusal and bought the oil field parent company NCOC, jointly established by Italy and Kazakhstan, directly completing the actual control of the oil field.
As for why our country had to go through so much trouble, the reason is not hard to understand. It's just that we were scared by the United States. We were worried that even if the Kashagan oil field was deemed a wasteland by the United States, they would not want China to get it, which is why we were hiding our identity and quietly acquiring it.
Of course, because of this, after learning that the oil field was taken over by China, the United States was very angry. They not only accused us crazily but also made sarcastic remarks in a fit of anger, which basically meant that China's move could only be self-defeating and could only end up losing everything like Italy!
But is the fact really so?
It is obviously not. After all, if we didn't have a hundred percent guarantee, would we dare to spend such a big price and take such a small advantage?
In fact, the reason why we dare to take over the Kashagan oil field is, first, because there has been a breakthrough in the relevant field of technology in our country. Second, under the exploration of Chinese geologists, the overall reserves of the Kashagan oil field have been updated. It is estimated that this number is no longer six hundred million barrels, but 250 billion barrels, which is more than forty times!Plus, with the addition of natural gas resources reaching up to 100 billion cubic meters, the stock prices are naturally expected to double. The shares purchased for 5 billion US dollars could turn into 40 to 50 billion US dollars once the extraction is successful. With such huge profits and high certainty, if we are not willing to take the bet, it would not be in our character.
Fortunately, heaven blesses China, and we have indeed succeeded. As early as 2016, China achieved commercial production of the Kashagan oil field. In 2021, the export volume of oil broke through the 150 billion US dollars mark. Recently, the daily economic revenue can reach 32 million US dollars. Those who were once indifferent are now out of reach, and it's no wonder that the United States and Japan are regretting it to the point of being green with envy!
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