Shaking his head, Yang Jing threw out all the thoughts that arose because of Guo Dabao's words.

This national-level energy strategic plan is not something he can touch. Perhaps after taking over the Dragon Fund in the future, he can intervene in this level of game, and rely on the huge economic strength of the Dragon Consortium and its shares in major mining companies to become the best intermediary between China and those energy exporting countries.

But that still takes time. What I should do most now is not to consider high-level things, but to continue to be a "oil seeker".

On the way from the airport to Baku city, you can see closed old oil wells everywhere on both sides of the road. Of course, low houses are indispensable.

As the capital of Azerbaijan, the Baku urban circle consists of ten administrative regions and forty-six towns. These towns are distributed on more than 2,000 square kilometers of land, making this area look particularly messy.

Yes, Baku’s urban planning is not very good. Most of these towns have developed based on the oil fields back then. Now, although Baku’s oil fields no longer produce oil from outside and the entire city has successfully transformed, the overall planning of the city really seems very messy.

The area in the city center is better, with high-rise buildings everywhere, but among the larger towns in the suburbs, there are few buildings with a height of more than five floors, mostly two-story and three-story houses. If you look at these towns alone, it is really difficult for people to connect the capital of a country to this place.

"It looks messy here, right?" Guo Dabao asked with a smile.

Yang Jing nodded. He has been to many foreign capitals over the years. Although there are also many shabby capitals like Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, but the shabby places are shabby and the urban planning is not so messy.

Baku can be said to be the most messy capital with urban planning that Yang Jing has ever seen.

"Haha, there is no way. Baku has a long history, which can be traced back to the third century BC. It became the capital of the Baku Khanate in the 18th century. It was incorporated into Russia in 1806 and became the capital of the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan in 1920. However, before the 20th century, this city was a very backward city, with not even a tree in the city. However, after the world's first real oil well was successfully drilled out here in 1946, the city entered a stage of rapid development."

"I have been here for a few days. The day before yesterday I went to the city museum to look at it, and I saw many old photos taken a long time ago. On those old photos, there were derricks everywhere in this large area at that time, especially after 1870, after the Russian government abolished the state monopoly, private enterprises achieved explosive development. At that time, there were more than 20 small oil refineries just around Baku!"

Yang Jing nodded with a smile and said, "Uncle Guo, I know this. British Prime Minister Churchill once said that if oil is the queen, then Baku is her throne. At the beginning of the 20th century, Baku oilfield became the highest-producing oilfield in the world, becoming the industrial center of the South Caucasus and the Russian oil base. Since then, Baku has been famous for its wealth "oil city".

"That's right!" Guo Dabao nodded, "In that era, the Tsarist Russian Empire was one of the largest oil producers in the world. At that time, the Tsarist Russian Empire's oil production accounted for one-third of the world's share. Here, the Rothschild family and the Nobel brothers competed for business hegemony. However, with the October Revolution of 1917, the Russian Civil War and the nationalization of oil companies, it caused a serious blow to the Soviet oil industry. However, foreign capital did not withdraw from the Soviet market. The Rothschild family and the Nobel brothers were replaced by the Standard Oil Company and the Vacuum Oil Company in New York, which was later Mobil Oil. In 1923, the development of the Soviet oil industry normalized and oil exports returned to pre-revolutionary levels. The Caucasus and the Caspian Sea region were still the most important oil producing areas in the Soviet Union. Therefore, Shitler had coveted the Baku oil field for a long time and even launched the Barbarossa plan for the Soviet Union."

Yang Jing smiled and said, "Yes, fortunately, Shitler did not conquer Stalingrad at that time. Otherwise, once the German army was allowed to conquer Stalingrad, the Baku oilfield would completely fall into Shitler's hands. It's hard to say what the final outcome of World War II would be like at that time."

"Yes, when Shitler fought against the Soviet Union, it was the peak period of the Baku oil field. In 1940, the production of Baku oil field accounted for 71.5% of the Soviet oil production at that time! If Shitler really took over the Baku oil field, the Soviet tank cluster would first be over, and then Shitler, who obtained the oil resources of the Baku oil field, would turn around and take a heavy blow to the Allies from the Western Front. Perhaps the result of World War II would be really different." Guo Dabao said with a smile.

"Until 1950, this was still the largest oil field in the Soviet Union, with oil production accounting for 39.2% of the total Soviet output. However, since the 1950s, due to the increasing decline in reserves, the crude oil production of the Baku oil field declined after a total of 1.2 billion tons of cumulative exploitation, and the production situation took a sharp turn. In addition, the Soviet government increased its efforts to exploit oil fields in the Volga and Ural regions, resulting in the Baku oil field falling to 15% of the total output of the Soviet Union in 1955. In the 1960s, as the Soviet Union launched oil extraction in the vast area of ​​Western Siberia, a large number of people migrated to this densely populated area. The increase in Soviet oil exports led to a decline in world oil prices, which was also one of the reasons for the establishment of OPEC in 1960."

"Since then, the proportion of Baku oil fields in the Soviet Union's oil production has become smaller and smaller. In 1970, Baku's oil production only accounted for 5% of the Soviet Union's annual oil production, and by 1980, this proportion dropped to only a pitiful 2%. Later, the Soviet Union collapsed and Azerbaijan became independent. After the new century, Baku's oil reserves were almost exhausted. Therefore, there are many old oil fields here, with the sticky and unexploitable oil still billions of tons. Most of these old oil wells have been closed for decades, and some have even been closed for hundreds of years. Xiaojing, whether we can find oil fields that are "survived" from these old oil wells depends entirely on you."

Yang Jing nodded and said, "Uncle Guo, didn't you just call me here to do such a thing?"

Guo Dabao smiled and did not answer this.

Yang Jing sighed, changed the subject and asked, "Uncle Guo, how many old oil wells have we bought this time?"

"I bought a total of 625 old oil wells, and spent a total of US$110 million!"

This number made Yang Jing gasp, "My God, are you planning to exhaust me?"

Guo Dabao spread his hands and said helplessly: "What can I do? This is not what I decided, it is the indicator that the superiors pressed down. Now our Rongbao Mining is building two precious metal mines in Papua New Guinea, so I would not be willing to invest so much money in these old oil wells. If it weren't for the superiors' loans to our company this time, would you think I could buy so many old oil wells?"

After a pause, Guo Dabao continued: "The reason why the superiors pressed this time is also closely related to the partners this time."

Yang Jing asked in confusion: "Who is our partner this time? It is worth the country's efforts to buy so many useless old oil wells?"

"Warjit Alecperov, do you know this person?"

“It sounds familiar.”

"The boss of the Russian Luke Oil Company, one of the Russian oil oligarchs, a hard-core supporter and friend of the Ptsar. He is a native of Baku, and he was born and raised from here."

"Luke Oil Company? The Russian Oil Company that first cooperated with China?"

"That's right, it's the Luke Oil Company. Because Luke Oil Company had had good cooperation with China before, this time we, Rongbao Mining, were able to buy these old oil wells from Alec Perov."

Yang Jing rolled his eyes and said angrily: "Uncle Guo, aren't we begging that Alex Perov? This should be his begging us. Almost no oil production is produced by these old oil wells. Who bought it? We took out more than 100 million US dollars in real gold and silver. It is estimated that Mr. Alex Perov is secretly happy now."

Guo Dabao smiled helplessly, "Xiao Jing, it's only for us to talk about this. Don't say that when we go out and guard outsiders. Also, we spend more than 100 million US dollars to buy these useless old oil wells. Isn't it because you are holding it down there? If you can find a few more old oil wells that have come alive in these old oil wells, we will make a profit!"

"Uncle Guo, you think of me too much, right? This is more than 600 old oil wells. I look at it one by one. How long will it take to see it?"

"Hehe, Xiaojing, let me tell you, don't think that these old oil wells are large, but in fact, these old oil wells belong to two different oil fields, and they are basically all concentrated together. You don't have to run away at that time."

"And, to show your importance to this cooperation, Mr. Alecperov has flew from Russia to Baku, and now he has set up a banquet in his own manor, waiting to welcome you."

Yang Jing patted his forehead and sighed helplessly and said, "Uncle Guo, no matter what, I am the most miserable guy."
Chapter completed!