Chapter 1811 Encountering Pirates
Today is Christmas, and sports leagues led by the NBA have launched Christmas war plans to attract attention.
This year's Christmas war does not have a heavy flavor of confrontation. This is also because after Xiao Hua took office, he deliberately reduced the conflicts between the teams and created a family-like rhythm for each team, which also made the Christmas war lose the intensity of previous years.
Nowadays, the Christmas game seems to be more like a show. The players also focus on performance and entertainment, supplemented by victory and defeat. Playing happily and going home for the holidays is what they want to do most.
The Brooklyn Nets, who are scheduled to appear in Game 3, will sit at home to face the challenge of the Celtics. These old rivals in the Northeast will present Christmas dinner to the audience at the Barclays Center.
As the team owner, Yang Cheng was originally going to sit on the sidelines and cheer for the team. But after arriving at the stadium, he was called to the office by Conrad and did not show up until the end of the game. The reason was naturally because something happened at the oil company. .
"What's going on?" Yang Cheng couldn't help but ask when he saw Conrad's crying face.
"One of our Suezmax tankers was surrounded by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea~"
"What?" Yang Cheng asked in surprise.
"Gulf of Guinea? How did our tanker end up there? Is the Owowo oil field starting to produce oil?"
"It has started a long time ago~ But now it is trial mining. This first oil tanker to be transported to the Netherlands has a load capacity of 160,000 tons and carries 1.8 million barrels of crude oil. By the way, this oil tanker is still rented by us."
Yang Cheng was shocked when he heard this. According to the current Brent oil price, 1.8 million barrels is equivalent to more than 100 million U.S. dollars. Now the offshore treasury with more than 100 million U.S. dollars is being targeted by the group of pirates and desperadoes. Who will listen? All big.
Even if the ship is not theirs, it costs money every day it floats on the sea. The rent does not count, and there are operating costs. The crew members need money to eat, drink and eat on the ship. A conservative estimate is more than 8,000 US dollars a day. The rent Even if it is calculated at US$10,000 a day, if this ship floats at sea for one more day, it will be worth close to US$20,000 in vain.
Although it is nothing compared to the crude oil worth more than 100 million, the problem is that it is unclear who the more than 100 million belongs to now.
"The pirates have sent a ransom email asking us to pay US$20 million in cash."
When Yang Cheng heard this, he immediately cursed, "Fuck, I would rather spend 20 million to rent a warship and destroy them all~"
Conrad smiled bitterly and said,
"Don't say these unrealistic things, tell me what to do now~"
“Did the oil on this tanker find a buyer?”
"Not yet. This is the reserve crude oil we are going to transport to the Dutch oil depot. Now I am really looking forward to a buyer. At least someone will help us share the pressure."
Speaking of this, Conrad couldn't help but take out a cigar and smoke it. He couldn't help it, he was anxious!
"How's the situation on the ship?"
"When I received the news, the pirates had only surrounded the tanker and had not attacked yet. However, they sent us an ultimatum. If payment is not made before 12 o'clock tonight, they will not be responsible for the safety of the crew~"
Yang Cheng slapped the table and cursed fiercely, "West (T) Red (M) Persimmon (D)~"
Conrad is confused, what the hell? What does it have to do with tomatoes?
Since the 15th century, the Gulf of Guinea has become an important base for European colonists to plunder gold, ivory and trade slaves.
Since the 1970s, proven oil reserves here have exceeded 80 billion barrels, accounting for more than 10% of the world's total. Among them, Nigeria has approximately 36 billion barrels and is Africa's largest oil producer. Foreign oil companies such as Shell, Total, Eni, and Chevron all have substantial interests here.
Piracy, oil theft, illegal fishing and drug smuggling are rampant on this huge arc-shaped coast. According to statistics, nearly 50 sailors are kidnapped in just one month. 73% of the world's kidnapping incidents occur in the Gulf of Guinea. 92% of hijackings occur at sea.
In fact, since Nigeria’s 2011 general election, the problem of piracy here has become a focus of global concern.
Countries along the Gulf of Guinea have been experiencing political turmoil all year round, with frequent civil wars and tribal conflicts. Countries have no time to take care of coastal affairs. In addition, youth unemployment and widespread poverty are also important factors that contribute to the problem of piracy.
As one of the largest economies in Africa, Nigeria has a population of nearly 200 million, a single economic structure, and prominent social problems. Many Nigerians engage in self-produced and robbed businesses. Young people work in the oil fields during the day, and after tankers go out to sea at night, they He covered his face and transformed into a pirate, and robbed the crude oil he mined with his own hands. The identity change was natural and there was no delay in doing both.
It can be said that to some extent, pirates in the Gulf of Guinea are more ruthless than those in Somalia.
Yang Cheng ignored Conrad's confusion and asked, "Are the people who sent us emails a straggler or an organized gang?"
"It's an organization known as the Triangle Avengers~"
The name sounded familiar to Yang Cheng. He walked around the desk and started working on Conrad's computer. He found the relevant news in a short while.
Sure enough, he had heard of this name. In the middle of this year, the newly established armed organization in Nigeria announced that on the same day, it claimed to blow up oil wells and pipelines in the Niger Delta in order to seek better redistribution of oil revenue. and other facilities, causing oil production in the region to fall to a 30-year record low this year.
Unexpectedly, less than half a year later, the organization would make a comeback. This time, it aimed its guns directly at oil tankers at sea. These mobile vaults that transport oil to the world every day were their biggest target. Destruction was never their main purpose. , making money is real.
More sporadic pirate kidnappings are often part of the criminal activities of these large armed groups. An important reason for pirates to engage in this business is to make a living. As long as someone pays, the unemployed and angry young people at the grassroots level will not hesitate. To join, it's enough to occasionally cause damage once or twice to show your presence. Use the accumulated fame to play blackmail. You can make money and improve your life, and it's also safe. Why not?
But they are really good at picking the time. Don’t you know today is Christmas? Are you all on vacation? Do you dare to wait until you get to work?
It's wrong to say that they don't know how to choose the right time. These pirates are very smart. In the first half of this year, when the oil was not as good as the water, they were not so active.
In fact, just a few months ago, 1 gallon of crude oil was much cheaper than the same measure of mineral water!
At present, despite experiencing several months of ups and downs, the oil market has begun to rebound, with oil prices rising nearly 100% compared to the previous price. It is no wonder that this group of pirates has become active. You must know that the crude oil price plummeted half a year ago, not only This has caused huge losses to global oil producers, and even pirates have begun to lose interest in robbing oil tankers, because if they go out to rob, they not only make no money but also lose money. Who can bear this?
This is a real thing. Don’t think that pirates are stupid. These people also know how to read the market. The market has not been very good since last year. Therefore, the number of maritime attacks on oil transport ships in the Gulf of Guinea has decreased by more than 50% compared to 2014. The ones that are going to take risks at this time are basically small fish and shrimps, which cannot cause much harm to the tanker.
Going back a few years, when oil prices were above $100 per barrel, it was profitable for pirates to rob oil tankers.
But with crude oil falling below $30 per barrel, it is better to go to the supermarket and rob mineral water. At least it is much safer on land than at sea.
Not only pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, but also pirates in the entire ocean are not interested in oil tankers when oil prices are low. Therefore, at that time, there will be a rare spectacle of oil tankers "running circles on empty" on the sea!
Because at that time, it was useless to pursue efficiency for oil tankers. No one would buy them. They would even waste 20 days traveling around Africa just to find even one buyer after all the hard work!
Especially in areas with excess crude oil production, such as the United States. In the first half of this year, a large amount of crude oil had to be stored in oil depots or tankers at the Port of Galveston, Texas. The crude oil storage capacity of the United States is close to saturation. Although Europe Not saturated, but almost less.
In order to find suitable storage locations and a small number of buyers, many energy companies have adopted a strategy of letting tankers that have already set sail take longer routes, so that they can have more time to find buyers or buyers for these crude oils. Finding onshore storage facilities also allows these crude oils to be rewarded with a better delivery price in future delivery periods.
But now that the oil market is picking up, tankers no longer need to run empty. When they are full of oil, they want to put on their wings and fly to their destination. The rental price of oil tankers is also the same every day, and it is getting more expensive day by day. However, energy companies do not care, as long as the oil produced is used by people. Buy it and they will make money!
But the problem now is that as the oil market picks up, pirates are also coming back to life like TM. They frequently appear in major maritime fortresses and carry out a new round of robberies on oil tankers. It’s so cheap~
In fact, these energy companies have their own internal plans to deal with pirates. But the plan is one thing, and the actual situation is another. Pirates cannot act according to the script you planned, and accidents can happen at any time. It may happen, so no matter how adequate the plan is, if you really encounter pirates, it will be in vain~
Yang Cheng had no choice but to ask, "Have you contacted the escort formation?"
"Contacted, it will be too late to rush over. If the pirates take hostages, the escort formation has no good way to attack and rescue them by force, which will still cause casualties~"
Conrad looked at the time and said, "There are only a few hours left before the limited time given by the pirates. What should we do?"
Yang Cheng rubbed his forehead. What else could he do about this kind of thing? He could either count on the escort to provide some help and try to reduce casualties, or he could admit defeat and pay him. But 20 million US dollars is almost the same as the profit of this oil tanker. , how could it be given!
Thinking about it this way, it seems that human life is even less valuable. After all, they are all dead. Even adding one yuan to the pension will not cost 20 million. Maybe a few million will be enough!
No, no, this idea is too evil and negative. It is not the behavior of a positive energy baby~
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