Rise of the Argentine Empire

In addition to his daily office work, Saint-Hesse also took the time to watch a few soccer games.

Recently, with the Southern Oil-Rome matter nearing its end.

The Southern Oil exploration department has reported good news from Neuquén Province, west of Blanca City.

Besides the oil in Neuquén Province, the team in Chubut Province in the south also has good news, with successes in both locations.

Southern Oil Company is now fighting on two fronts. Apart from the cooperation with Rome's Italian Oil Company, the Southern Oil exploration team is entirely sourced from the Thunder Mining exploration team, without needing to be rebuilt.

Saint-Hesse had actually coveted the oil in Patagonia for a long time, and before obtaining the oil extraction license, he had already used Thunder Mining's exploration team to establish mining sites in the south.

The result was that Thunder Mining discovered oil in the closer Neuquén Province, which made him extremely excited.

Without carefully reviewing the report, he planned to go and see it, even more excited than securing the iron ore mine in Uruguay's Thirty-Three Orientales Province.

Neuquén Province is next to La Pampa Province, and the place where oil was discovered is only 100 kilometers away from the capital of Neuquén Province, Neuquén City. There is a direct railway, and the distance is very short, perhaps allowing for faster pipeline construction. Saint-Hesse plans to go and take a look first.

To get a vacation, he plans to take a team to the south and west, but this requires the approval of the council, so he can only wait patiently.

In Argentina, there is nothing that cannot be solved by watching a soccer game. If there is, then watch another one.

The weather in Blanca City has just risen to 3 degrees Celsius, and Argentinians are already starting to prepare for soccer games.

This kind of weather is not suitable for outdoor construction, so construction workers start looking for happiness on the soccer field.

It even drove the increase and sales of Pratti Food beer in winter.

It must be said that eating barbecue in winter is also the best social activity for Argentinians.

Argentinian steak, even the most common variety, is very delicious and juicy after being raised for a long time.

This may be a gift from the fertile land. A cow basically needs to be raised for more than ten years, and they move freely on the grassland, which is much more comfortable than their relatives in captivity.

This is also one of the reasons why Argentinian beef has always had a market against American beef. The Pampas super ranch, although Saint-Hesse feels in his heart that this utilization rate is not high, his mouth is honest.

On Saturday night, around ten o'clock, Saint-Hesse, after watching a soccer game with Elena, chose an ordinary steak restaurant near his home.

The second floor was a bit quieter. Saint-Hesse added some black pepper to the beef.

The beef was already grilled perfectly, and he was about to start eating. Many people in the restaurant were eating meat like him and didn't notice the mayor.

At this time, Saint-Hesse didn't speak or look at Elena's movements in her hand, but turned to look at the bustling crowd outside the window, wondering what he was thinking.

After cutting out a small piece, Saint-Hesse put the steak into his mouth with a fork.

The steak was crispy, soft, tender, and juicy.

Under Saint-Hesse's advocacy, Blanca City's major stores and night restaurants have become the last to close in the city, which has boosted consumption in Blanca City.

This has even become standard in Blanca City. Because of the sufficient power generation capacity, the main streets in the east and west districts of the main urban area have been fully covered with street lights.

The nightlife is very unrestrained, and the public security conditions are very good. The reason why Saint-Hesse is a little dazed is that the peaceful night life is so rare.

Even so, the night security in the suburbs of Blanca City is still a bit poor, but it is already very rare.

Saint-Hesse thought for a while. He hasn't been to many places. Even in Cordoba, Montevideo, New York, Chicago, and Buenos Aires, he rarely goes out at night.

Of course, even if he goes out, he will definitely be accompanied by a reliable security team at all times, otherwise he would rarely take Elena out at night.

In the end, Saint-Hesse persuaded the council members, obtained a 7-day vacation, and arranged the specific work matters.

Saint-Hesse's first stop was Neuquén Province to see the oil there.

……

On June 18th, Saint-Hesse took a professional team and traveled by train from Blanca City to Neuquén City.

Neuquén City is the capital of Neuquén Province, a city and river port in west-central Argentina, located at the confluence of the Limay and Neuquén Rivers, at an altitude of 265 meters.

This small provincial capital has a small population of only over 30,000 people. As soon as Saint-Hesse got off the train, he felt that the temperature here was higher than in Blanca City, and there were also many dogs in the city.

Saint-Hesse couldn't help but think of an anecdote.

He heard on the news that the people of Neuquén City especially like dogs. The most important animal in the city is dogs. There are at least 50,000 dogs here, more than the people in the city.

This is also one of Argentina's important wine-producing regions, with a large temperature difference between day and night, and the weather is relatively dry.

In the simple reception room of Southern Oil in Neuquén City, Saint-Hesse warmly shook hands with Dr. Duke Satchi.

Dr. Duke was originally one of the chief exploration experts of Thunder Mining, in his 40s, and came to the provincial capital in advance to greet them this time.

Dr. Duke felt flattered because his exploration report had only been submitted a little over 5 days ago, and he received a response so quickly.

And the big boss personally led the team over.

In Neuquén Province, the Vaca Muerta Formation is fueling a new boom in Southern Oil development.

This mining area is near the town of Añelo, about 100 kilometers from the capital of Neuquén Province. To meet the work, living, and housing needs of the thousands of workers and technicians in the oil and gas development projects that Southern Oil Company may launch, Dr. Duke has built a small settlement area.

After exchanging a few pleasantries in the capital of Neuquén Province, Saint-Hesse took a car and went to the oil field mining area with Dr. Duke of the oil exploration team. A few days ago, Southern Oil's first commercial oil well produced oil.

“Is the maximum reserve here only 1 million tons?”

That's far from enough. 1 million tons can be mined in a few months if it's fast. What he needs is oil, a black gold mine. It seems that there is no need to continue investing in Neuquén.

It is not worth continuing to mine at all, or with the current Southern Oil, there is no need to spend money here.

“Yes, the reserve of 1 million tons is already one of the largest oil wells in our country.”

Dr. Duke continued to describe, not seeing that Saint-Hesse's face had turned a little ugly.

“It only needs an investment of 2 million US dollars to be completely mined, and it is possible that there is a huge mining area nearby.”

Saint Hesser had already planned to leave here and head to Chubut Province.

“One million tons is a bit too little, it doesn’t seem to have the value for large-scale mining.”

Saint Hesser said euphemistically, calculating in his mind that at a price of $1 per ton of oil for equipment, plus transportation costs, it might reach Blanca City… He planned to take a look and wasn't preparing to invest further. The money needed to be spent wisely.

Not including subsequent mining and maintenance costs, these 1 million tons of oil, approximately 7 million barrels, are worth about $14 million. It doesn't seem very cost-effective, especially if various facilities need to be built, adding up to an estimated $8-10 million, and there's no potential for further extraction.

If the estimated reserves were on the scale of ten million tons, it would be quite worthwhile.

After getting out of the car, Saint Hesser saw the members of the exploration team, enduring the cold winter here, exposed to the elements.

“Boss, take a look, it's like this everywhere here. Oil shale can also be mined as a petroleum energy source. There are at least 20 million tons of shale oil here.”

Dr. Duke was a little anxious, quickly grabbing a handful of brown mudstone-like material from the ground and handing it to Saint Hesser to examine.

“What is oil shale?”

Hearing about the scale of 20 million tons, Saint Hesser finally perked up a bit, but he only wanted to mine cheaper and more useful light crude oil, not shale oil.

“Oil shale, also known as oil-bearing shale, is a kind of sapropelic substance formed by lower plants and minerals under the reducing conditions of inland lakes, seas, or coastal lagoons. It is a high-ash sapropelic coal.”

Dr. Duke seriously introduced, educating Saint Hesser,

“The development and utilization of oil shale can be traced back to the 17th century. By the 19th century, the annual production scale of oil shale reached millions of tons. Oil shale can produce kerosene, lamp oil, paraffin wax, fuel oil, lubricating oil, grease, naphtha, illuminating gas, chemical fertilizers, ammonium sulfate, and other products. At the beginning of this century, due to the emergence of automobiles and trucks, oil shale was heavily mined as transportation fuel.”

“Oh? What is the estimated mining price?”

Saint Hesser was still not very interested after listening. He seemed to vaguely remember shale oil, wasn't that what the Americans mined a lot of in later generations? It seemed like there was also shale gas.

“About $8 per ton.”

Dr. Duke gritted his teeth and gave a number.

“So expensive? The international market price for a ton of light crude oil is only $14, about $2 a barrel.”

Saint Hesser had read international news reports that the crude oil extraction price of British Petroleum in Persia was only 50 cents a barrel, which is $3.5 a barrel.

Moreover, $8 is not the final cost, there are also transportation and other aspects.

Now shale oil has almost been replaced by Middle Eastern oil. Kuwait, Syria, Egypt, Persia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Iraq have all discovered large quantities of light crude oil fields, selling at very cheap prices.

Closer by, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia also have large amounts of oil available for extraction.

“To be honest, there isn’t much mining value here.”

As a profit-oriented company, Southern Petroleum doesn’t have a lot of capital to invest in an oil field with an uncertain situation. This will probably have to be left for future development.

Chubut Province seems more suitable for extracting higher quality oil.

“Boss, as long as we have more advanced equipment, the estimated price can be cheaper. If the company can provide another $200,000 in exploration funds, I am confident that I can discover several more oil fields. We have only explored a portion of this basin.”

Dr. Duke had already realized that Saint Hesser was not interested in this place, he said in a pleading tone.

It is not easy to discover oil in the Neuquén region, and shale oil is a relatively inferior and expensive oil. Even with 20 million tons of reserves, it is far from enough.

“Then I'll give you another year. I will allocate more exploration funds to you.”

With a final decision, Saint Hesser ultimately decided to support Dr. Duke's exploration plan.

It's a backup plan. After all, being able to discover a 1 million-ton oil well means there's a chance of discovering several large oil fields.

Moreover, looking at this exploration team, the scale is indeed a bit small. Being able to spend so little money and discover an oil well is not bad.

…

At Dr. Duke's invitation, after a simple dinner, Saint Hesser hurriedly left Neuquén and took the train south again to Comodoro Rivadavia in Chubut Province.

Comodoro Rivadavia is the largest port city in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina.

Located on the shores of the San Jorge Gulf, the city currently has a population of 47,000. Originally a wool export port, it developed into the country's main center for oil production and export in 1907 due to the discovery of oil nearby.

The Patagonian region is mainly located within Argentina, encompassing almost all the land in the southern part of mainland Argentina, with an area of approximately 673,000 square kilometers.

The special structural foundation and complex geological conditions have created a good resource environment and abundant mineral conditions in Patagonia. Patagonia is the region with the most promising development prospects for the Argentine mining industry.

This is also one of Saint Hesser’s confidences. The Patagonian region has large and widely distributed oil reserves, and more and richer oil and natural gas resources have been found on the offshore continental shelf. The Patagonian region, centered on Comodoro Rivadavia, has become Argentina's largest oil base.

Since the 1940s, both Argentine governments have attached great importance to the colonization and development of the Patagonian region, formulating and implementing policies to encourage the migration of various populations, funds, technologies, materials, and equipment conducive to the region's development, hoping to turn it into a region with well-developed animal husbandry, agriculture, and industry, and then become a new growth point driving the development of the entire national economy.

These policies to encourage development, released by Perón last year, mainly include: First, formulating preferential conditions to attract inland residents and foreign immigrants to reclaim and develop here.

Second, encouraging the development of industry in this region, stipulating that newly built industrial and mining enterprises are exempt from value-added tax for 10 years from the date of production.

Third, encouraging domestic and foreign private capital to explore and develop oil and natural gas.

The implementation of these policies is expected to strongly promote the development of the Patagonian region.

Saint Hesser had more confidence in this place. He carefully read Dr. Tristão Loulersa's report, and saw in the report that the reserves of the oil wells they discovered here were 150 million tons, enough to meet Blanca City's future petrochemical industry needs.