A New Oil Deposit Was Discovered?

When the Polia Kingdom showed a positive response to joining the oil-producing nations union, it was decided that a meeting would be held, led by the Magnia Empire, where people related to the petroleum industries of the Noma Empire and Moria Empire would gather. The time of the meeting was set for April 1.

The location was decided to be the Polia Kingdom, which would be joining for the first time, in a commemorative sense. Following this decision, the Polia Kingdom began preparing to receive those related to the oil-producing nations. Of course, since it was not a national event, the Resource Ministry decided to manage such preparations separately on its own.

Time passed that way, and by the end of March, the related parties began arriving in the Polia Kingdom one by one. Since the oil-producing nations union was quite famous, the contents of the articles were being handled with a certain amount of importance. The reporters themselves were even quite pleased that their own country, the Polia Kingdom, was participating in such an oil-producing nations union.

Thus, when April 1, the date of the meeting, arrived, many reporters visited the hotel being used as the conference venue. In truth, there was also great interest in this matter from foreign countries, so there were also many foreign reporters. Amid this, police officers were stationed here and there to prevent any possible unfortunate incident.

With the entrance of the hotel becoming noisy and bustling like that, a vehicle soon arrived. And the person who appeared as the door of this vehicle opened was none other than a person named Zelf, who held the position of chairman of the petroleum industry in the Magnia Empire.

“It’s Chairman Zelf!”

“Hurry and take pictures!”

Papapak! The reporters continued taking pictures with their cameras. Amid the flashing lights, the rear door opened and the person who appeared was a man named Zelf, who held the position of petroleum industry chairman. As he raised his hand and moved forward, everyone shouted questions in an attempt to obtain even an interview.

“Chairman Zelf! Oil prices have risen since the beginning of this year, so what do you think is the main reason?!”

“The petroleum industry is explosively growing even now, so what do you think the scale of that growth will be in the future?”

“With the Polia Kingdom joining the oil-producing nations union, what changes in oil prices do you expect in the future?”

“What do you think about the undeveloped oil deposit here in the Polia Kingdom?!”

At the questions poured out by the reporters, Chairman Zelf merely smiled, showing even his white teeth, and did not particularly show any sign of answering the questions. From the start, if he said even a little, his steps could be tied up at the entrance, so he had no choice but to go inside like this.

As Chairman Zelf entered in that way, the related parties who had come with him also entered, and afterward, the people from the Noma Empire and then the Moria Empire arrived in order. Meanwhile, amid this, the related people from the Polia Kingdom finally showed themselves arriving last.

“It’s Baron Smith, the chairman of Smith Petroleum Company!”

Smith Petroleum Company could be called a company that had literally grown into one of the Polia Kingdom’s leading petroleum companies. Long ago, it had entered into a technical partnership with a petroleum company of the Moria Empire and had even bought refining technology, so it had been chosen for oil drilling work in its own country.

Of course, it had faced difficulties when it was unintentionally obstructed by the Moria Empire, but as the Noma Empire helped them, from that time onward, it was able to gain the ability to drill and develop oil and achieve tremendous growth.

Thus, Baron Smith, who had already become a man in his fifties, appeared together with officials from the Royal Resource Ministry and entered the hotel, and everyone continued capturing that sight with their cameras. At the moment when people outside were noisily talking about the figures who had appeared, Baron Smith, who had entered the hotel interior, soon boarded the prepared elevator.

When he arrived on the third floor where the meeting was being held, he was able to enter. In his view, he saw a spacious lobby and a door, and through the open door, he could see that quite a few people had already arrived. The moment he entered inside like that, Baron Smith could feel many gazes turning toward him.

All of them were oil-related figures from the empires. In the face of their appearances, he showed himself entering inside with confident steps, as if he was inferior to none of them. Today, no matter what anyone said, he was the main character.

Clap clap clap clap-

Everyone was clapping to welcome the representative from the Polia Kingdom. Today’s meeting, in a way, also meant a congratulatory greeting for the Polia Kingdom’s first joining. Amid this congratulatory welcome, he was guided to the seat prepared for him and sat down, and only then did the applause come to an end.

At that moment, someone sitting in the seat beside him spoke to him.

“Hoho, it has been a long time, Chairman Smith.”

“No, it truly has been a long time, Chairman Serbia. Have you been well all this time?”

The old gentleman with a snow-white beard covering his face was a figure who held the position of chairman of the leading petroleum company in the Noma Empire. In truth, he was acquainted with Baron Smith. He was the person who had taught him most of the drilling technology in the past.

In a way, he could also be seen as someone who had exerted enormous influence on the growth of the Polia Kingdom’s current petroleum industry. Of course, it had been possible because of the approval of the Noma Empire’s imperial family, and it had also been something carried out according to political power.

“I have always been living the same. More importantly, these days, it seems the scale of all your facilities, including oil refining facilities, is no joke.”

“Because our king actively invested in them, we were able to expand the facilities even more than before.”

In reality, 20% of the shares of Smith Petroleum Company had originally belonged to the royal family. However, enormous funds had been invested over time, and as the facilities were greatly expanded, the royal family’s share had increased significantly to 40%.

In a way, the royal family had become the place that held the largest share of Smith Petroleum Company. In truth, even Baron Smith himself only held 25% of the shares, so he had fewer shares than the royal family. However, since the royal family was actively supporting him as chairman, he was still able to obtain the qualification to lead Smith Petroleum Company.

“That person is indeed someone who does not hesitate when it comes to bold investments. More importantly, there is something I am curious about. May I ask?”

“What is it?”

“I mean the oil deposit that was discovered but is not being developed. Are you truly planning to leave that place undeveloped continuously?”

“I think it will probably end up that way. His Majesty said that oil to be used by future descendants should be left behind.”

“Hoho, he is truly an extraordinary person. If it were me, I would absolutely not be able to say that.”

With oil resources capable of earning enormous money right before one’s eyes, who would not feel greed? From the fact that this was something an ordinary person could never endure, one could see just how far beyond the line of the ordinary the character of the Polia Kingdom’s king was.

“I, too, dare not fathom his thoughts.”

The respect contained in Baron Smith’s voice as he spoke was deeply rooted. Chairman Serbia, looking at this appearance, thought that his loyalty toward the king was indeed remarkable.

‘At least in this country, no one can speak carelessly about the king.’

He already knew about the Dairam incident that had erupted last year because of bad words about the king. As its result showed, anyone had to be careful when speaking about the king in this country.

“It seems only we have been conversing too much like this. Everyone appears to have many things to discuss with you.”

At Chairman Serbia’s words, only then did Baron Smith feel the gazes of those seated around him. Baron Smith slightly bowed his head toward them and began speaking with them one by one, holding conversations.

Before long, greetings were being exchanged, and various words were being shared back and forth. Then, as time passed and Chairman Zelf stepped forward, he officially conveyed that the Polia Kingdom had also joined the oil-producing nations union.

Congratulatory words were exchanged, and meanwhile, it was decided that a party would be held to commemorate this. The party venue was set to be the party hall located precisely on the second floor. In truth, in this country, parties were set so that nobles could not hold them recklessly. However, foreigners could hold parties as they wished.

Since the money being spent was foreign money anyway, no regulations related to parties had been placed, as if telling them to spend as much as they wanted. The party that opened that way was quite splendid. As if showing just how much money the petroleum industry was currently earning, there was no hesitation in how the money was spent.

Since a grand party not inferior to one at the royal palace had been held after a long time, there were truly many Polian nobles participating. As if showing that they were all starved for parties, they showed considerable enthusiasm, and everyone was enjoying themselves greatly, as if they had been possessed by ghosts who had died because they could not attend parties.

At the sight of these Polian nobles, the foreigners had no choice but to shake their heads on their own.

Polia Kingdom, inside the royal castle.

“Many gathered here, did they not?”

“They are all sincere about parties, after all.”

“Is it time to gradually lift the restrictions on parties?”

“Will you lift them?”

“Not completely. What about merely making it so they cannot hold parties too indiscriminately?”

“That would not be a bad thing. They will probably be happy when they learn of this.”

He had heard that a meeting for the oil-producing nations union was held today. And since a party was even being held afterward, he had called Viscount Rubingston to obtain information, and in the photographs Rubingston handed over, he could see just how many nobles from his own country had participated.

‘It is not as though they lack money now, and restricting freedom too much will also become something that builds dissatisfaction.’

At the time of his enthronement, he had known that the country had a lot of money, but he had also known that money was leaking into useless places, so he had restricted parties first. That matter from back then was still continuing even now, and perhaps because of that effect, there had been no unnecessary leakage of money into pointless places.

“For now, let us move on regarding parties like that. Lately, interest in the deposit that we banned from development has grown, has it not?”

“Would that not be because it is the only one among the oil deposits discovered immediately that is not being developed?”

“I do not know why they covet what must be left for the future.”

“Could it be because some of the deposits are beginning to face the danger of depletion?”

“Already?”

“It seems to be mostly centered on places with small reserves. After all, during the previous Great War, there were many fighter aircraft mobilized, and many tanks as well, were there not?”

“When thinking about the nearly atrocious fuel efficiency of such weapons, the amount consumed was indeed extremely large.”

“Since many fighter aircraft were also used in the recently ended battle with the Republic of Promance, the consumption of oil grew even larger.”

“Even if a few places become depleted, is it not a problem? They are empires that even took all the deposits that used to belong to the Doicheun Empire right away.”

Since they had taken the valuable oil deposits among the war reparations of the Great War almost as if forcibly seizing them, it did not seem that they needed to worry about the problem of depletion.

“It seems they think it is still insufficient when considering the oil consumption that will increase going forward. So they have no choice but to keep paying attention to the deposit on our side that we will not develop.”

He thought that consumption would indeed increase greatly. Even in our kingdom, cars were now being produced, and at the same time, many people were purchasing and owning cars. Thinking about the use of oil resources that would have to handle the number increasing with each passing year, perhaps even we could face the danger of deposit depletion twenty years later.

‘That is why we must delay development even more now. We do not know what will happen later, and there is no need to develop it and deplete it early.’

That was why these days, he was readjusting plans toward buying oil from new oil deposits. For the moment, they were in a state where oil supply close to self-sufficiency was possible, but he was thinking of gradually changing even this proportion and lowering it to half.

‘Of course, later on, even if we cannot reach a maximum of 70%, we will have to move in the direction of buying oil from foreign countries.’

Only by doing that would the country itself be able to prepare for any possible emergency later.

“I understand that we also currently have exploration teams searching for oil deposits abroad. Are there still no results?”

“Yes, it seems they have all failed so far. They say finding oil is not an easy task. In truth, the oil deposits found in this country were truly found by good fortune.”

They said that discovering oil resources was truly difficult. It involved digging the ground in dozens of places and searching for oil deposits that might be inside, and even each one of these drilling operations could be said to cost an enormous amount of money. It was literally a business that consumed massive costs, with unlimited funds being spent until the moment of discovery.

‘The funds consumed so far have indeed been too great.’

Though he did not say it, because they had failed so much, he had thought that perhaps he had considered it too easily. Seeing how they had found an undeveloped oil deposit, he had lightly thought inwardly that they might find another one, and continued sending exploration teams abroad to search for oil resources.

‘So this is why companies keep pressuring exploration teams.’

Since it was a situation where only money was being wasted without results, they would inevitably have to send pressure. From this fact, Ian wondered what he should do. He himself was also in a situation where he had to say something to the exploration teams.

‘It would be good to set a fixed number of drilling attempts per year.’

No matter how much money he had, watching it be wasted was not particularly pleasant. So he thought it would be good to set a number of attempts so that they could be more cautious. Rather, if they did that, they might sort things out more carefully and then carry out drilling operations.

At this very moment, while Ian was thinking about what to do, a new discovery was currently being made on the New Continent located across the sea. It was none other than a new oil deposit being discovered.