Chapter 153 Coal Concerns

"But I heard that 90% of the population in Albania is illiterate and can't even spell a word."

"And most of them are MSL."

"Albania has recently been, um, recovered by Greece."

Thinking that the word cession doesn't seem to be appropriate, Little Nobel changed his words.

At this point, Little Nobel looked at Yakov, the current head of the Purple Robe Foundation, beside Constantine, with doubt.

According to Constantine's cooperation method, the oil company formed by the cooperation, the Greek Petroleum Company, is to make a large investment in Feri.

Including oil extraction, equipment purchase, and oil refinery construction. For cost considerations, it is best to set up a factory directly in the local area.

Although Constantine's so-called Greek economy will be transformed and upgraded in the next period of time, the demand for oil will rise rapidly.

However, in a backward area like Albania, is it a bit too whimsical to carry out a large amount of investment and construction at present?

You know, Albania is still under martial law.

How to solve the basic infrastructure, such as electricity, transportation problems, and employee problems?

"Don't worry about these, Mr. Nobel," Yakov said confidently.

"Once the Greek government's financial situation improves, according to the government's work plan, it will increase investment in the Albania region," Yakov revealed.

"For example, the railway, the government plans to build a railway trunk line from Albania to Athens, passing through the Epirus region."

"At that time, even if the railway does not pass through Feri, we can invest in the construction of a railway branch line to facilitate the transportation of oil products from Feri."

In fact, Feri is very close to the coast, and the straight-line distance to the nearest Adriatic coast is only about 50 kilometers away. Moreover, Feri is close to Vlora, an important port city in southwestern Albania.

"According to the government's plan, a railway must be built between Vlora and Tirana," Yakov said, while dipping his finger in wine, roughly drawing a map of Albania on a white tablecloth, and explaining to little Nobel.

In this era, the construction of railways is generally accompanied by the laying of telegraphs. When the railway is built, the telegraph is also connected.

"Don't worry about electricity either"

"Recently, our Tesla Power Company has decided to invest in a hydropower station in Albania," said Carl, the manager of Tesla Power Company, to everyone present.

"The hydropower station in Albania is located in the lower reaches of the Vijosa River"

"After completion, it can give priority to supplying electricity to the port of Vlora and the city of Feri"

Currently, most of the power plants in Greece are thermal power plants, which generate electricity by burning lignite.

For infrastructure such as power stations, due to the long recovery period and high investment costs, Tesla Power Company has only started to make profits in the past two years with the development of Greece's cotton textile industry and food processing industry.

Recently, the food processing industry in Greece has also become a major power consumer, such as olive oil pressing plants and flour mills, which have contributed a lot to the profits of power companies.

In order to speed up the control of Albania, after the government reform, Constantine specifically informed the manager of the power plant, Carl, to invest in a small hydropower station in Albania.

With the maturity of the AC system over the years, with the help of Tesla, Tesla Power Company plans to make a breakthrough in the field of hydropower generation, and this small hydropower station itself is also experimental.

If this experiment is successful and the feasibility of the hydropower station technology is confirmed, Tesla Power Company will build a number of hydropower stations in Greece in the future.

"Don't worry about the workers," Constantine said.

"Greece has implemented compulsory education for many years, and there is no shortage of qualified workers."

"Even engineers and students from the University of Athens are good choices."

Little Nobel looked at his uncle, nodded slightly, and said: "Recently, the Education Foundation has also begun to enter Albania."

"Sponsor the development of Greek education there."

"The more illiterate people there are, the better for Greece."

The Royal Education Foundation, which is well-funded, has long entered Albania under the command of Crown Princess Sophie, and sponsored school-age students to go to school.

There is no way, the Greek government can't count on education at all.

The current Royal Education Foundation is similar to the sovereign wealth fund of later generations, and its beneficiaries are almost all Greeks.

Moreover, the foundation has made a lot of money by investing in industry and commerce in Greece in recent years. The source of financial resources is no longer simply relying on the Congolese colonial government as before, according to the grants agreed with Constantine.

For example, in addition to the Purple Robe Foundation, the largest investor in the oil company this time, the Education Foundation’s funds are also used. The Education Foundation will hold a 20% stake in the Greek Petroleum Company.

After considering all these situations, seeing that his uncle also agreed, little Nobel finally made up his mind.

Constantine was also very happy to see that the Nobel family was finally brought into the Greek Petroleum Company. This means that the Greek economy will have a new growth engine in the future-the oil industry.

"How about it, Costebru, now you don't have to worry about the problem of kerosene mixed combustion boilers," Constantine said to Costebrunoyu.

With the gradual development and maturity of the Congolese colony in recent years, especially the completion of the Congolese railway system, combined with the reality of the crisscrossing waterways of the Congolese, and the joint operation of railways and shipping, the rich resources of the Congolese colony have been fully displayed to the world.

The shipping company under the Greek Congo General Company is responsible for freight and some passenger services from Congo to the Mediterranean. The freight business is becoming more and more busy, and the consumption of thermal coal is also increasing day by day.

Now, the amount of raw materials such as sugar cane, rice, poppy (used by Philip Pharmaceutical Company to refine morphine), wood, copper ore, rubber, ivory, etc. shipped to Europe is increasing day by day.

All of Greece's thermal coal, and part of the coal for steelmaking, rely on imports from the UK. At present, Greece has become one of the important coal customers of the UK. This is a hidden worry for Greece's economic stability.

The important energy source is too single!

Once the UK is unable to provide Greece with sufficient coal, Greece has no other alternatives at all.

Although Germany is also rich in coal, due to its geographical location, the cost of transporting German coal to Greece is higher than that of British coal.

Greece's industrial development is heavily dependent on foreign countries, especially Britain.

Therefore, after the Albanian oil fields came into view, Constantine suggested to Costebru that the Athens shipyard could try to change the pure coal-fired boilers to kerosene-mixed boilers as ship power, or even use heavy oil as the energy source for ships.

After all, although the crude oil in the oil fields has a high sulfur content, Greece can produce it by itself.

And almost all thermal coal has to be imported from the British.

When the relationship between the two countries is close, this is naturally no problem, but who can guarantee that the relationship between Britain and Greece will always be close without any twists and turns?