What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 314 Retest, Retest!
[Commander: All fleets, report your positions!]

[Sougetsu (Susumu Kimura): I am currently on a material transport mission and have entered the 100-nautical-mile zone]

[Liaoyue (Abel): Training orders have been modified; it has entered the 100-nautical-mile zone.]

[Civilization (Allison): I have...]

【…】

Last night, two cruisers and four destroyers were in position.

Meanwhile, in the port's "dock warehouse," the aircraft carrier Kaga and the battleship Wisconsin were used to make up the numbers in the fleet.

[Gongzhen Port Fleet:]

The base fleet is located within a 100-nautical-mile radius of the port.

All fleet warships are in effective combat status.

[Effective usable area of ​​the island: 0.4 square kilometers]

Fishery resources +20%

[Currently producing oil: 2000 tons/24 hours]

Tang Wen could see the view below the plane by closing his eyes:

The four rows of oil pumping units and the four rows of oil wells became semi-transparent in front of him, with crude oil being continuously drawn from the underground void and transported to the oil tanks not far away.

每一个放置的采油基地日产上限是10000吨，包含了40台日产100吨的游梁式抽油机（磕头机）以及40座日产150吨的采油树。

Eighty oil extraction machines are crammed together in a small area of ​​less than 10,000 square meters, creating a kind of aesthetically pleasing effect of exhausting resources.

The dozen or so workers that appeared out of nowhere patrolled and stood guard with expressionless faces, but did not play any practical role.

Tang Wen glanced furtively at the two oil experts who were still engaged in a heated discussion, hoping they wouldn't be intimidated.

No, someone must have already been frightened.

The seaplane entered the landing path and glided gently on the water, providing a unique experience that the passengers found quite pleasant.

Levi's even patted the sparse interior and joked:
"If each flight only costs $10, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing probably wouldn't be able to sell any planes."

You do have a foundation in aircraft manufacturing; I always thought something unexpected would happen.

Tang Wen thought to himself that he was also quite scared, but if something really happened, he could still teleport.

As the group walked onto the dock, Chu Zhen immediately noticed the bustling construction site, followed by the exploration ship that had arrived several hours earlier. However, strangely, many large pieces of equipment had not yet been hoisted down.

This displeased him, and he grabbed one of the students who was on the ship and asked:
"Why isn't anyone unloading the equipment? Are we supposed to just look at it?"

The student he asked stammered:

"Teacher Chu, I think seeing with my eyes is enough."

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"Teacher... you'll see when you see it, it's over there."

Chu Zhen looked in that direction and could only see a few huge oil storage tanks; the rest was blocked, but he could indeed see the oil pumping station.

He frowned and said nothing more, muttering to himself as he followed Wells in that direction.

Wells didn't notice their conversation; he just kept praising the country's powerful construction capabilities. The six dredgers operating continuously were like a spectacle, like six tentacles surrounding the island.

The group quickly passed through the port buildings and stood in front of the oilfield.

At first glance, the geological team of more than a dozen people was stunned.

The oil wells and drilling rigs are densely packed on both sides, too numerous to count at a glance.

Chu Zhen rubbed his eyes to make sure that his eyes weren't blurry from playing tricks on him.

Forget about the pumping unit, there's also a wellhead? Those are things only used in flowing wells. Judging from the scale he saw... the daily output is probably heading towards three to five thousand tons or more!
His first reaction was that it was absurd; what kind of person would be so crazy as to mine oil so intensively? It was a complete waste.

The oilfields are connected by an extremely complex network of pipelines, which transport oil to the tall storage tanks nearby, while in the distance, the flare towers are burning fiercely.

As an expert, he immediately noticed that there was very little black smoke, indicating that the oil quality here was very high and the sulfur content was low.

No way?
He looked at Wells, whose expression was:
!!!∑(Дノ)ノ

At this moment, a member of the expedition team who was on board ran over from the oil storage tank with a measuring cylinder in hand. Upon seeing Chu Zhen, he immediately shouted:
"Director Chu, I just checked the flow rate. The main pipeline has a flow rate of 1.6 to 1.7 cubic meters per minute. This is the oil sample I just took!"

The two expedition teams immediately stepped forward. Chu Zhen held up the measuring cup, while Wells observed carefully from the side.

It is translucent, with almost no obvious sedimentation or stratification, and no residue.

Their eyes met across the measuring cup, and they both saw the surprise in each other's eyes.

At 1.6 liters per minute, if this can be maintained, the daily output would be 2000 tons.

This figure is usually only achievable in medium-sized oil fields, but here? In such a narrow area?
Chu Zhen immediately led his group into the oilfield, crossed the pipes, and stood in front of a tree to carefully observe the instrument readings.

Next one, the one after that, and then another one.

Wells lowered his head and pressed his ear to the valve, hearing the force of the liquid gushing outwards.

"How about it?"

Levi asked eagerly.

Wells: "The boy is right. This is an oil field that is already in production, and... at least there is a large and high-quality oil field in the shallow layer... I'm going to stay here for a few days to take samples, observe, and check the flow stability!"

"What if what that person just said is true?"

“Well… I think you should ask Tang, he has the firsthand data here.”

Facing the gazes that were focused on him, Tang Wen felt an overwhelming joy:
"As you can see, we are currently in the experimental development stage, producing about 14,500 barrels per day, or 2,000 tons, but I guarantee that this number will increase to 10,000 tons within two months."

This is just the Gongzhen No. 1 oil well; we also have No. 2, No. 3… and many, many more!

Levi quickly did the mental calculations, then turned pale with shock.

If it can really produce 1 tons per day, this oil well alone could generate nearly $5 million in revenue per year, which would be quite dramatic if oil prices were halved.

If a few more were built, a mere $30 billion wouldn't be much at all.

Levi asked somewhat incoherently:

"Tang, is your company really a private enterprise? McDonnell Douglas can invest, and we can use cross-shares to offset the transaction amount, so we don't need to pay all the cash."

Tang Wen, however, expressed his inability to help:

“If McDonnell Douglas invests, Geiger will lose its mining rights here.”

"That's true... Ahhh!"

Levi clutched his head in anguish. If McDonnell Douglas had a few oil wells, it would be a miracle if it went bankrupt.

Just then, a commotion came from afar. It turned out that Chu Zhen had opened the valve of the oil wellhead, and crude oil immediately shot out from the nozzle.

When he held the sample out, he confirmed that it was almost identical to the previous test results.

Several of his students were adding insult to injury:

"Professor Chu, the data here doesn't seem to match the records. Wasn't the last exploration in 84? There shouldn't be such a big discrepancy."

"Professor Chu, shallow flowing wells can't be seen in the supercomputing data. The raw data is quite skewed."

"Teacher Chu, Teacher Chu!"

As he spoke, Chu Zhen suddenly knelt down, grabbed a handful of soil mixed with crude oil, and shouted almost in despair:
"Get on the ship immediately. The entire surrounding area needs to be resurveyed, completely and utterly!"

(End of this chapter)