123 The Fall of Portugal (2)
Recently in Europe, the value of oil has been skyrocketing as the demand for vehicles is increasing and the power of factories is drawn from thermal power and steam turbine power generation.
In particular, as the price of gasoline and diesel rose even more, oil exchanges were established in Suez and around Israel.
Taken from noblemtl.com
Merchants check the oil price announced by the exchange and decide how much to buy that day.
ding ding!
“1.2 cents for 10 barrels, bidders gather!”
“… … Damn, it’s up again.”
Now the Benheren fleet also visits this place.
Oil Guild Guild President Pitt flipped the abacus to and fro and fell into deep thought.
Then his colleagues asked him.
“Are you going to live?”
“It’s too expensive. Even if we refine the oil and sell it, it will not be profitable.”
The basic unit of the exchange is 10 barrels, and the price is formed based on this. In principle, taxes are collected from the ‘Oil Sales Association’ created by the East Stellar Company and the Egyptian and Arab alliances.
Since the tax rate is about 7-8% based on the basic unit of 10 barrels, even a 3% increase in crude oil prices was a burden for merchants.
Taken from noblemtl.com
Most importantly, at present, the problem was that East Stellar was the only technology that could process crude oil and create high-purity fuel.
“Should I contact the refinery?”
“… … Damn it, what?”
East Stellar Chemicals’ refinery was located near the crude oil exchange, and countries that did not have refining technology could purchase fuel at a relatively low price here.
Some could ask for oil refining, and in this case, it was often used when the amount of duty-free crude oil that could be secured through a contract with East Stellar was large.
“How much duty-free oil do we have?”
“There would be about 72 barrels left.”
“… … there’s nothing wrong with it Then we will invest about 200 cents including duty-free oil and bring it with us.”
“Okay. Then I will place a buy order at the sales office.”
“Yeah, buy some oil and take care of the refining. I’m going to the shipyard for a bit.”
Recently, as oil exchanges are located in the Middle East, the need for tankers that can naturally transport oil has been emerging.
Although in a primitive form, East Stellar launched an armored tanker, and the demand for it was increasing day by day.
Pitt’s guild took out a loan equivalent to 70% of the value of the tanker, and the shortfall was covered by borrowing bonds.
That is why whenever the price of crude oil rises, I think about the cost, and I feel like my head is going to explode while calculating the profit.
He visited East Stellar Shipyard before departure and requested maintenance of the oil tanker.
“How long will it take to repair?”
“Well, a day or four?”
“… … It’s tight.”
“I think I’m going to lose a day or so. Butler says the pipeline will be completed soon, so on our next trip, we’ll get a little more profit.”
James Butler, the general manager of the crude oil exchange, has established a system to control the production of crude oil according to the requests of refineries and tankers.
Recently, East Stellar was in the midst of installing oil pipelines linking Middle Eastern crude oil producing regions and crude oil exchanges, and a system was established that could allow crude oil to reach the exchanges in at least four days.
If the pipeline is completed, it will be possible to procure crude oil from all over the Middle East like tap water.
Pitt was reluctant to wait four days here.
After paying the part manager of the shipyard, he went to Cairo’s financial district.
Whoops!
There was a market here that was well four times larger than the financial markets of London.
Eaststellar’s oil business, which is developing day by day, was developing the finances of North Africa and Western Middle East Asia.
James Butler set up a financial system to allow oil to be traded on paper here, and an agreement was made to establish guarantees for bills and bonds in his country.
After selling oil and receiving only a single piece of paper, each European country could later pay for it in gold.
Pitt signed a contract to pay the price of oil by issuing notes to the Easterfield European Investment Bank.
When a bill is issued and the European investment bank’s gold is pulled, the discount rate on the bill of the day must be applied.
In other words, you pay a 2-3% fee at the same time you make a payment.
However, it was much cheaper than carrying around gold and making a transaction or paying with bills that fluctuate too much.
“The discount rate today is 2.75%. Would you like to sign a contract?”
“It’s a little off the 3% price.”
“What would you do? Would you like to come back in a few days?”
The discount rate near the oil exchange is not determined by the headquarters of the European investment bank, but is determined according to the basket created according to the current market price.
In a word, it was said that the range of fluctuations was determined according to the actual value of currency used in the region.
Pete shook his head.
“Just sign a contract today. I went to the exchange, and the price went up a lot. Tomorrow the currency will depreciate further, so it is better to sign a contract now.”
“All right. Then I will issue a bill.”
Although the Dutch guilder had a rather high value compared to the currencies of neighboring countries, it could be devalued due to fluctuations in oil prices.
It was characteristic of this region that as the value of oil increased, the value of money decreased.
It was said that if you signed a discount rate contract with the value of the guilder currency lowered, you may have to pay a higher amount later.
Taken from noblemtl.com
Moreover, crucially, the oil and financial markets use the centralization of the European Development Bank.
If the price fluctuates when purchasing a central coin later, it could be a real disappointment.
In the end, Pitt, who issued the bill on condition of having a 2.75% discount rate, headed to the precious metals market.
“… … Damn, I guess I’ll have to find some good stuff at an auction for precious metals.”
As oil and finance developed in North Africa and Israel, Egypt’s precious metals market became more lively.
Josh Roland, general manager of Eaststellar North Africa, recently opened an integrated gold market in Cairo in conjunction with the Egyptian precious metals market.
The integrated gold market here is more than five times the size of London, and gold from all over the world has been gathering here.
This was because gold is used the most in oil settlement, but recently Suez has been in the spotlight as a bridgehead connecting the East and the West, so the inflow of gold has been increasing.
The price of the precious metals market is continuously updated in connection with the integrated gold market, and the price of precious metals also changes according to the price fluctuations of the integrated gold market.
If Pete gets his head around it, he might be able to make up for his oil loss here.
In the precious metals market, which was more crowded than the oil market, there was a huge amount of gold flowing in and out.
“Yeah, I have no choice but to hit the jackpot here.”
He was thinking of adopting an investment strategy based on the recent popularity of luxury goods in Europe.
Pitt went to the branch of the Eaststellar Company located within the precious metals market.
The East Stellar Company branch even provided items at a very low price by paying a certain fee.
He met with the person in charge, emphasizing that he came from the Benheren fleet.
“Our Benheren fleet and Eaststellar are brothers who grew up on the same roof, so I think they will pay more attention.”
“okay. We will take the utmost care. However, the price of gold may change tomorrow, so the amount paid will fluctuate.”
“I know.”
“All right. Then come back in two days.”
“thank you.”
Pete was full of anticipation of paying a fee here to find good things.
On the other hand, the East Stellar Company was hesitant to set prices on the items it would sell to customers.
In fact, more than 9% of the volume traded here was related to East Stellar.
In particular, in the case of gold, almost 20% of it was produced in East Stellar, so the Suez financial district and the precious metal industry fell into the hands of Lee Hwan.
“What should I do when the Benheren fleet finds good things?”
“Give me something cheap. That’s not going to keep the friendship going.”
They found a very cheap item in the ledger and put a price tag on it.
Thus, the price of a single gem was determined.
After all, the fluctuations in the gold price and the price of precious metals are determined by East Stellar, so what they call is the price.
***
As the construction of the Panama Canal began in earnest, logging work and civil engineering work were carried out in the area.
As a pre-construction work, the underground work of repelling mosquitoes and removing venomous insects was preceded, and as soon as it was finished, an excavator and a towing machine were put in, and the construction began to move forward.
According to the construction progress, a slightly more robust defense base was established near Panama.
As well as the fleet base, additional turrets and coastal artillery positions were installed, it was becoming more and more an iron fortress.
Taken from noblemtl.com
Meanwhile, in the vicinity of Panama, a new strategic weapon was being tested.
It was a submarine.
Late at night, the ‘Black Shark’, a reconnaissance unit belonging to the East Stellar Fleet, returned from its mission.
As soon as the Black Shark arrived at the dedicated dock, the technicians clinged to it.
“Did you write the data?”
“Yes, yes.”
“how was it? Overall.”
“The operation time is still short, but I am still very interested in diving.”
“Hmm, is that just about that?”
There are two strategic materials that Eaststellar has recently been risking life and death to develop: one is an aircraft, and the other is a submarine.
At present, the biggest problem was that the operating radius was not very wide because the battery technology was not sufficiently developed yet, and there was a risk of a collision at any time due to the absence of a sonar.
In addition, there was a problem that operation at high depth was not yet possible, and there were many difficulties in equipping weapons by attacking.
However, it was remarkable that the submarine had come to the brink of commercialization.
Currently, the submarine is tasked with reconnaissance around the coast near Panama, and consists of eight crew members.
These eight men were contributing to the development of submarines by accumulating navigation data while surveying and reconnaissance in the vicinity of Panama.
Using the data collected by the Black Shark, the engineers gathered more accurate information about the coast of Panama, as well as quite a bit of technical data for the submarine.
“It is clear from the data that the performance of the storage battery has improved compared to the last time. How about, the engine is smoother than last time?”
“It is, but the speed is still a bit disappointing.”
“I can’t help it.”
“It’s a bit disappointing that we don’t have any weapons other than to shoot because we’re injured.”
The current Black Shark had nothing to do other than open the hatch and sharpen the gun in case of encountering an enemy in an emergency.
However, that problem will be resolved soon.
“The Shaktus torpedo will be developed soon.”
“A torpedo?”
“Because we are developing an underwater shell that uses a battery and has a propeller.”
“iced coffee! Yes, we also use submarines, but there is no law against developing deep-sea shells!”
“And soon, when topographical data in this area is gathered, a secret base will be built based on the uninhabited island and the Eaststellar Company port facility. From now on, I will be able to ride a submarine and supply batteries from that base, so the operating radius will be a little wider.”
Submarines will continue to develop.
If submarines develop a little more like this, it may change the paradigm of naval combat itself.