America: My Time

Chapter 798 Scheming Against Japan
Chapter 788 Scheming Against Japan

Money! The modifications in Riyadh cost another fortune, making Sikorsky a fortune. Although it was just a civilian helicopter for the royal family, it would be even more astonishing if the tycoon went all out. At this point, Sikorsky couldn't be more eager for Saddam Hussein to have a greater deterrent effect, forcing the tycoon to continue modifications and upgrades in order to earn even more money.

It was precisely because Sikorsky kept his promise and immediately arranged for personnel to fully cooperate with the tycoon's modifications that he was naturally more favored by the tycoon. Under such circumstances, the tycoon naturally offered more benefits. However, John was unaware of all this, as it was all part of the initial agreement. Now, John was still facing these greedy Japanese guys, and he was extremely cautious around them because these bastards were capable of anything. There was nothing they wouldn't do for profit; all they cared about was profit.

"Mr. John, could you provide some more oil? After all, our current demand is still quite high."

John shook his head and said, "It's difficult. I can hardly give you such a guarantee right now. This is my limit. If you need more oil, there's nothing I can do. After all, I have my own difficulties. You don't think I can transport all the oil reserves from South Korea and Taiwan, do you? That's impossible. We can't do the same with China either. At least we need to ensure our own needs. I can't let my refineries shut down!"

If John were to agree to these guys' demands now, how could he continue to swindle them and trick them into signing a two-year supply contract? However, judging from the reactions of these Japanese guys, a two-year contract would be difficult to secure; they were all wary.

With a change of heart, John continued, “If you are not in a hurry, you should wait and see before making a decision. After all, things are not as dangerous as you think. Perhaps things will be resolved soon. With your reserves, plus this batch of oil from me, you can last for another month. It will not be too late to make a decision then! Of course, if you are willing to sign a two-year supply contract, I can also contact the Middle East for you. I believe they will still give me face, but I am afraid you will not be willing to accept it.”

The Japanese were naturally unwilling to accept such a contract; two years was too long for them. If possible, they would prefer to sign a one-year contract, which would minimize their losses, given the current high oil prices.

Seeing John's expression, these guys understood that they wouldn't be able to get the oil they wanted from him anytime soon. Although they knew that John had barter trade with the Russians and could even get more oil from Middle Eastern tycoons, they couldn't get John to supply them with more oil.

Although they didn't know how long John's agreement with the Middle Eastern tycoon had lasted, they knew that John received a lot of oil from the tycoon every year, and even now John's tankers were still continuously transporting Middle Eastern oil to his crude oil reserve base in Southeast Asia, especially in Pakistan, where a large oil reserve had been built.

"It's all about who can do it," that's the real thought behind these guys in Japan. Now that they know how much crude oil John can provide, they'll just have to rely on their own abilities. At this point, the Japanese government also sighed. Although they wanted to restrain everyone, they unfortunately chose to back down in the face of this profit.

John has now given the amount of oil he can provide. Now it's up to these guys to decide how much they can get. The Japanese government won't get involved, nor can it, otherwise they'll just be caught in the middle.

Although John could sense the change in these Japanese guys, he knew in his heart that it was impossible for him to take advantage of the situation to raise prices. They wouldn't agree, and if he did, they would quickly unite. So John wouldn't raise prices any further. For John, it wasn't about making this one deal, but about signing a larger supply agreement with these guys, preferably a big order. He knew he had a good oil company among the Middle Eastern tycoons that could easily handle this business.

John has already dug the pit; now all that's needed is the right opportunity, just waiting for those Japanese to walk right into the trap. But he can't rush things; he needs to remain calm. The longer it drags on, the better for him. Of course, it can't exceed two months. Given Japan's current situation, if they don't activate their war reserves, they won't last two months, not even a month. After all, Japan is now a truly developed country with an astonishingly high oil consumption.

The Japanese, with their vast sums of money, don't really care about it, so they won't care about rising oil prices—at least most of them don't, since they all own private cars. With this round of negotiations concluded, the oil price and supply quantity have been finalized. Now, only an internal decision from within Japan remains. Judging from their reactions, none of them want a distribution based on need; everyone wants a larger share. Therefore, from now on, they'll have to rely on their own abilities.

Seeing their reactions, John got up and left again, leaving the time and space to them. How much they got depended on their own abilities; they could fight and negotiate for it themselves. John had no objections. In the end, John said that if all else failed, the Japanese government would handle the transaction, and then they could allocate the shares themselves.

At this point, John didn't have time to continue arguing with these guys, so he directly shifted the trouble to the Japanese authorities. John believed that these guys would definitely agree, after all, time was of the essence, and any internal disputes could be discussed slowly, but the priority was to get the oil back first.

As John got up to leave, Akio Morita also got up to leave. There was no need for him to stay any longer; after all, it had nothing to do with him or Sony, and staying would only be a waste of his time. However, this was only on the surface. Secretly, Morita still wanted to discuss things with John on behalf of Mitsui. Mitsui also had petrochemical businesses and needed oil, but they wanted to obtain oil beyond their share from John.

“Mr. Morita, please have a seat over there. I don’t understand why the Japanese government doesn’t release their reserves if oil is in such a tight supply. A two-year contract is nothing to Japan, after all, the economy is paramount. If an energy crisis occurs, Japan’s economy will plummet, and it might even affect your stock market. Compared to that, the investment in oil is insignificant.” John shook his head slightly, looking puzzled.

"That's not quite right. You know that strategic reserves can't be used lightly. The government has been working on maintaining them for a long time. If they're used now, and things aren't over yet, and oil prices continue to rise, then Japan's situation will be even more dangerous. After all, it's not easy to transport oil out of the Middle East now. We're not like Mr. John, who has good relationships with Middle Eastern tycoons and can get more oil."

"That's wrong. It's an accident. Initially, we only wanted Western Energy to have its own crude oil reserves in Asia to prevent rising oil prices from affecting our development. So far, we haven't completed our reserve plan, and this war has disrupted our plans. You know, when the war broke out in Kobe, I also suffered considerable losses. Many orders couldn't be fulfilled, and our losses were not small. Now that the war has broken out, it has directly disrupted our oil reserve plan. To be honest, it has completely affected our overall plan. Perhaps you don't know, but our oil reserve bases in China, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan are constantly expanding. We need more oil reserves."

Does John have oil orders in Kovites? Of course, and quite a few, otherwise how could he dispel other people's doubts? However, John's most numerous oil orders are with wealthy companies. Most importantly, Western Energy owns its own oil fields in the Middle East and Asia, all currently producing oil. Therefore, even if war breaks out in the Middle East, it won't affect Western Energy's development. Oh, it's not Western Energy anymore; the Asian and European parts have been separated.

When they saw John and Akio Morita talking, Hitomi Kuroki and Riko lowered their voices and even listened to their conversation. They knew that many of them had missions to carry out, and they were eager to know about such an important matter, since even a piece of information could earn them money.

Akio Morita was unaware of Western Energy's plans? He knew, because Western Energy's plans in Asia were well-established and continued even after the company's restructuring. However, things had run into trouble. With the outbreak of war in the Middle East, John's oil supply was significantly reduced due to the conflict in Kovit. Now, these Japanese companies were 'cooperating,' severely impacting John's plans.

Of course, these guys from the neon were unaware of John's 'scheme' against them, because everyone knew about Western Energy's previous plans, so they didn't realize that this was just John's setup. If this was a trap, a conspiracy, or a scheme, then John had been setting it up for a year, which was a bit too crazy.

(End of this chapter)