My 1999

"Boss, are we going to add more?" Andrew asked.

Looking at the numbers on the big screen, Xu Liang hesitated for a moment and shook his head.

He just came here to fish in troubled waters. Now that his goal has been achieved, there is no need to continue to stir up trouble.

It would be bad if he made things worse.

Moreover, ExxonMobil's conditions of 'US$42 million signing fee, US$98 million maximum mandatory investment, and 44.3% local procurement ratio' seemed too high to him.

In addition to Unocal, the only two companies still competing for Block 6 are ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco. It is too risky to continue competing with them.

Andrew breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the big boss was still rational and was not led astray by the hot competitive atmosphere on the scene.

"ChevronTexaco, US$31 million signing fee, US$98.5 million maximum mandatory investment, and 44.6% local procurement ratio."

At this time, John Watson's nerves were highly tense.

This condition has slightly exceeded the company's bottom line for bidding for Block 6.

But there is no way, the company's order to him is to win Block 6, so even if it exceeds, he can't give up.

"John, Unocal seems to have given up."

John Watson was slightly relieved by his colleague's words.

Unocal's abandonment at least reduced a strong competitor for ChevronTexaco.

"Johnny, have you called the head office?"

"I have called. The head office replied that everything is ready, but now it is a clear bid. In the end, our conditions cannot be too different, otherwise the other party will not be able to fight for our rights."

John Watson nodded, "Exxon is the only one left."

He subconsciously looked not far away, where there were crowds of people, and they were obviously in urgent consultation.

Roberto Muric is an old hunter who has participated in oil auctions many times.

He decisively dragged out the time.

Soon the numbers flashing on the screen gave him the biggest reward.

"ExxonMobil, $31.5 million signing fee, $99 million maximum mandatory investment, 44.3% local procurement ratio."

ExxonMobil has a new offer.

But this price did not make John Watson frown, but instead showed a hint of joy.

"Send a message to the head office, now."

"Yes."

Johnny Dawn, who was in charge of computer operation, quickly sent the message to the head office mailbox.

In less than half a minute, Roberto Muric, who was in charge of hosting the auction, changed his expression.

He nodded after listening for a while with his earphones pressed.

He then picked up the microphone and said loudly:

"I announce that ChevronTexaco has obtained the exploration and development rights of Block 6."

Before the voice fell, Paul Stevenson stood up with an angry look.

"I have objections.

Why did we give Block 6 to ChevronTexaco when our contract bonus and general investment were higher than ChevronTexaco?"

Roberto Muric glanced at him and said calmly:

"We believe that the main purpose of oil exploration and development is to promote the development of Brazil's oil industry and increase employment.

Therefore, the local procurement ratio is the most important weight indicator in the three evaluation projects. In this regard, ChevronTexaco is 0.3% higher than ExxonMobil."

Everyone knows that this is a lie, but it is a lie that can be justified on the surface.

Stevenson has also participated in and managed many biddings, and it is easy to figure out the tricks.

Now, even if he is unwilling, Roberto Muric cannot change the bidding results under the watchful eyes of the public.

"We can only think of a way after the auction is over."

Looking at Paul Stevenson with an unwilling face, Andrew gloated: "ExxonMobil miscalculated."

The reduction of office processes by technological progress is obvious.

Signatures, seals, secret marks, etc., which were commonly used in the era of blind bidding, are now compressed step by step by computer software programs, greatly reducing the possibility of dark operations.

Especially when a technology is just invented, its preventive effect is the strongest.

Especially now, international oil bidding has become an open bidding on electronic screens. All information such as companies, bidding prices, etc. will scroll on the electronic bidding screen, allowing oil companies to re-bid.

At this time, the chance of dark operations is small.

But this does not mean that there is no possibility of dark operations.

Just like now, when the prices of both parties are similar, the country that owns the oil block, which has the final right of interpretation, can easily decide who will have the last laugh.

Looking at John Watson, who was hugging and cheering with his colleagues, Xu Liang narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I didn't expect him to make ExxonMobil suffer. It seems we have to be more careful."

After nodding, Andrew suddenly said:

"It would be better if we still use blind bidding like in the 1990s.

A barrel of oil costs $30, and oil companies can make $10.

Now a barrel of oil costs $40, but we can only make $8.

The transparent bidding environment has intensified competition, making the income of oil-producing countries higher and higher, and the profits of oil development companies lower and lower."

Corruption contains huge profits, and there is too much room for operation in blind bidding, so the profits are naturally greater.

In fact, according to Xu Liang's understanding, with the transparency of oil bidding, the profits of oil development will be even lower.

Even in four or five years, there will be a situation where you can only make $5 from $100.

Therefore, more and more large companies are entering the oil service industry, which was originally only of interest to small and medium-sized oil companies in the 1980s and 1990s.

Compared with the hard exploration and development, and the risk of oil price fluctuations, only making $5 per barrel.

Fighting for oil service contracts and making a stable profit of $5 per barrel, of course, the latter is less risky.

Now this trend is becoming more and more obvious. BP and ExxonMobil have begun to shrink their international businesses, especially in the field of oil exploration and development.

ConocoPhillips has to improve its balance sheet by splitting and selling non-core businesses because of its low profits.

Even ExxonMobil has less than 10% net profit, ChevronTexaco has only a little more than 7%, and ConocoPhillips is the worst, with less than 5%.

Once crazy expansion and mergers and acquisitions, thus becoming the third largest multinational oil company in the United States and the fifth largest in the world, in the end it had to face the dilemma of indigestion.

Of course, Unocal should also learn from ConocoPhillips's lesson, but it is too early to say this now.

No matter how unwilling ExxonMobil is, it has to accept the fact that it has lost to ChevronTexaco.

After John Watson and his team finished celebrating, the bidding for Block 7 began.

After a not-so-intense bidding, this last exploration block in the shallow sea area fell into the hands of the joint consortium of Dongying Nichiei Co., Ltd. and Argentina Petroleum Company.

So far, in the sixth round of Brazilian oil bidding, seven shallow sea oil blocks have been returned to their respective owners.

The happiest ones are undoubtedly BP and ChevronTexaco.

They respectively won Blocks 2 and 6, where large oil fields are most likely to exist.

In particular, Chevron also obtained the exploration and development rights for Block 4.

The most disappointed one is undoubtedly ExxonMobil, who got nothing after two attempts.

Of course, in the eyes of outsiders, Unocal is also one of the more unlucky ones. It also entered the top three in two bids, but both ended in dismal failure.

However, ExxonMobil is the world's largest upstream and downstream integrated oil giant.

It is extremely powerful.

Although it missed seven blocks in the shallow sea area.

But the five blocks in the deep sea area, except for Block 11 which was won by Shell, the rest went into their pockets.

After Roberto Muric announced the start of the bidding for the 13th oil exploration block, his nerves were highly tense and his attention was unprecedentedly focused.

"The next stage is our stage."

Xu Liang took a deep breath.

...

Internationally, oil and gas resources in waters with a depth of more than 300 meters are generally defined as deepwater oil and gas, and those with a depth of more than 1,500 meters are called ultra-deepwater.

The three blocks 13, 14 and 15 that the Brazilian Petroleum Administration put up for auction this time are located in the ultra-deep sea area.

Especially Block 15, the water depth has reached 2,000 meters.

This is just the water depth.

According to the actual drilling data of the Brazilian Petroleum Administration in the Santos Basin in the past few years, two sets of source rocks containing oil and gas have been developed in the Santos Basin, namely "lake-phase dark shale" and "deepwater marine shale".

The former is the main source rock in the Santos Basin. In the diving area with a water depth of less than 400 meters, its burial depth is 7 to 8 kilometers, and it is already in the mature stage.

The probability of discovering oil is very high.

Currently, most of the offshore oil and gas fields that Brazil has developed are located in this area.

Therefore, in this bidding, the competition for the seven blocks in the shallow sea area is the most intense.

In the continental slope and deepwater areas, the strata are relatively shallow, and the "lake-phase dark shale" is between immature and mature stages, and the probability of oil production is very low.

The deepwater marine shale is organic-rich calcareous mudstone and black shale deposited in a global anoxic environment.

It is located in the deepwater area of ​​the southeastern continental shelf and the super deepwater area of ​​the sub-depression of the Santos Basin. It is currently in the main oil window or has not reached the oil window.

In short, the probability of discovering oil is not high.     In addition, different source rocks have different oil-bearing layers, which will not be introduced here.

According to the information released by the Brazilian Petroleum Bureau, in addition to the nearly 2,000-meter seawater depth, the three blocks in the ultra-deepwater area need to continue drilling down two to three thousand meters to reach the area where the oil-bearing layer is located.

In other words, it is necessary to drill at least 5,000 to 6,000 meters from the sea level.

What is the concept of 6,000 meters?

It means that drilling an exploration well, which is commonly known as a "wildcat well" in the industry, will cost at least hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even tens of millions of dollars.

What is a "wildcat"?

The saying "a blind cat meets a dead mouse" is the most appropriate explanation.

Often, if ten exploration wells are drilled, it is considered good if there is one good well and nine dry wells.

But as oil field exploration gets deeper and deeper, and the area becomes more and more remote, it is often difficult to find a good well among ten wells.

So, oil exploration is really burning money.

The deeper you go, the more you burn!

It is also because the oil-bearing strata have low oil yields and are too deep, making exploration and development difficult.

Therefore, most oil companies on the scene think that blocks 13, 14, and 15 are useless, and it is a pity to abandon them.

"The next bid is for block 13."

"Let's start."

Andrew nodded.

As someone who insisted on targeting the three ultra-deep sea blocks, he also carried a lot of pressure in his heart.

"Unocal, $5 million signing fee, $50 million general investment, 40% local procurement ratio."

General investment is ten times the signing fee, which is much higher.

This is understandable.

After all, the cost of ultra-deep sea exploration is very high. If you only use 10 or 20 million US dollars, at most you can have less than ten wells.

Are you playing?

You can't try your luck like this.

$50 million is not too much or too little, and it just happens to let the Brazilian Petroleum Administration see its sincerity.

"Unocal?"

"Are they interested in ultra-deep waters?"...

Seeing the numbers on the display, the heads of the oil companies present looked at the area where Unocal is located in surprise.

Of course, it was just surprise.

In their view, Unocal's current bid is just the last stubbornness after all 12 blocks in the more popular shallow and deep waters were lost.

The head of the Brazilian National Petroleum Corporation saw that someone was backing them up, so they simply didn't bid.

As a state-owned company in Brazil, they don't need to participate in the bidding to get the best exploration block in the Santos Basin.

Generally speaking, if no other company bids within one minute after a company bids, the former will be declared the winner.

Unocal's bid is neither high nor low.

It just happens to be above the psychological price of those oil companies that try their luck at a low price to get a block.

So, one minute later, there was still only Unocal on the front display.

"Congratulations to Unocal for winning the bid for exploration block No. 13."

Led by Roberto Muric, loud applause rang out in the hall.

However, most of the eyes looking at Unocal contained a bit of mockery.

Xu Liang didn't care about these.

He was just gambling on luck.

If it works, it's better. If it doesn't, he can afford to lose a few hundred million dollars at most.

"Next is the bidding for exploration block 14."

"Unocal, $5 million signing fee, $50 million general investment, 40% local procurement ratio."

Looking at the content displayed on the big screen again, it was almost exactly the same.

The discussion below was much louder than before.

"Why are they here again?"

"The exploration cost of ultra-deepwater blocks is high, and the source rocks are underdeveloped, so the probability of containing large oil fields is too low. Unocal's people can't not know."

"Maybe they want to try their luck!"...

John Watson glanced at the display screen and turned his gaze to the area next to Unocal.

From his position, he could only see Xu Liang's profile.

The other party's calm profile showed no emotion at all, and there was no way to judge what the other party was thinking.

After examining for a moment, his face showed a hint of deep thought.

"Congratulations to Unocal for winning the bid for exploration block 14."

Without enough competitors, Xu Liang quickly got what he wanted.

However, compared to last time. This time, after the applause, the eyes of the crowd looking at him were less like watching the fun, and more like exploring.

"I'm afraid it won't be so easy next time."

Although the ultra-deepwater area is not popular, there is no shortage of people interested.

"Finally, it's the bidding for exploration block 15."

"Unocal, $4 million signing fee, $55 million general investment, 40% local procurement ratio."

After seeing Unocal's bidding information appear on the big screen again, the discussion in the audience stopped.

The whole venue was shrouded in a weird atmosphere.

There is a saying: you can do it once, twice, but not three times.

It is obviously a worthless chicken rib, and you can understand it as a chance if you take two pieces.

But if you take all three pieces, does it mean that you know some secrets that we don't know?

This is the human psychology.

Any normal person will involuntarily come up with such speculations when encountering this situation again.

And those who are sitting here today are elites who have fought out of the business world.

They are sharp-minded and meticulous.

"ChevronTexaco, $450 signing fee, $55.6 million one-time investment, 40% local procurement."

Xu Liang sighed in his heart.

The thing he was most worried about still happened.

But fortunately he made an explanation in advance.

"ChevronTexaco also made a move?"

Both giants are interested in Block 15, which instantly made other oil companies that were still a little skeptical that there must be something fishy in Block 15 that they didn't know about.

In order to avoid losing the benefits, the third bidder soon appeared.

"Toyota Nichia Co., Ltd., $480 signing fee, $55.9 million one-time investment, 40% local procurement."

"Boss...?"

Faced with Andrew's inquiry, Xu Liang shook his head.

"Don't worry, wait and see."

After ten seconds after the Japanese made the bid, there was a new bidder.

"Anadarko Petroleum, $500 signing fee, $56 million one-time investment, 40% local procurement."

After more than ten seconds,

"Toyo International Petroleum Development Company, $5.2 million signing fee, $56.3 million one-time investment, 40% local procurement."

Compared to the previous fierce bidding, although everyone has more doubts about the No. 15 oil block, due to the uncertainty, the price increase is not large, and it is slow and leisurely, showing no rush or impatience.

Of course, there are reasons for doing this.

One is to prevent the price from increasing too much and falling into the "trap" after winning the bid.

Another is to actively contact the headquarters and use their connections in Brazil to investigate whether there has been any secret exploration in Block 15 or new discoveries around it.

"The headquarters replied that only 15 exploration wells have been drilled in the ultra-deep sea area of ​​Brazil so far, and all of them are dry wells."

John Watson nodded.

"Is it really just luck?"

Looking at the young man with a calm expression, even if John Watson racked his brains, there was no other explanation except the possibility of luck.

Because the headquarters' relationship can directly reach the highest level of the Brazilian Petroleum Administration, and there is no possibility of mistakes.

After he got the reply, ExxonMobil, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Total, BP and other companies also basically got the reply from the headquarters.

The content was similar, and basically all negative.

So, although they doubted the motives of Xu Liang and Unocal, no one offered a high price.

After all, tens of millions of dollars is not a small amount.

No one wanted the money to go down the drain.