The biggest cost in long-distance shipping is fuel. A cargo ship of one hundred thousand tons needs dozens of tons of heavy fuel oil every day. A single refuelling can take one to several thousand tons of oil. If there is a price difference of a few hundred per ton, then one fuelling session can mean a difference of hundreds of thousands.
Many ocean-going cargo ships prefer to refuel in Singapore, mainly because the fuel there is cheaper, filling up can save a great deal of money.
If Hamid had oil, he would not need to waste effort finding buyers. He would only need to sell it at a slightly lower price to Wanlong Hall, who would then sell the heavy fuel oil at a lower price to Yisu Shipping. In this way the business line would be established.
At that point Hamid could make money, Wanlong Hall could make money, Yisu Shipping could save part of its fuel costs, and with the size of its fleet the savings in one year could amount to billions. This would absolutely be a win-win situation.
Moreover, with Wanlong Hall providing escort services along the shipping line, supplying Yisu Shipping with fuel would simply be an extra service.
Although Syria’s oil reserves are not as rich as those of the wealthy countries in the region, Ye Chen did not expect Hamid to obtain a massive oilfield producing huge daily profits. As long as it was decent and enough for Wanlong Hall and Yisu Shipping to use internally, the matter was worth pursuing.
Besides, Ye Chen’s goal was not just to save money. The main concern was Hamid himself, who had long been a problem. Normally stuck in his poor mountain base with almost no source of income, if not for Ye Chen’s support his base would never have become what it was today.
However, if he continued running at a deficit, he would be like a company that lost money year after year, nothing but a bottomless pit. Forcing him to make money would not work either, since he lacked the ability. Eventually Ye Chen would have to keep funding him, or simply abandon him.
So for Ye Chen the best option was to help Hamid secure a stable income stream.
Syria had long been plagued by war, the land barren. Even growing food for self-sufficiency was difficult, let alone making money to support a large army.
The best way to earn money locally was to extract oil.
If Hamid could not secure a piece of land with oil output, Ye Chen even considered having him seize one.
Otherwise, with such a large base now under his control, once Ye Chen cut off support, Hamid might not be able to hold on.
Hamid more or less understood Ye Chen’s meaning. The base had expanded, the numbers had increased, and the fortifications needed maintenance, raising overall operating costs several times higher than before. On top of that, Ye Chen had always told him to stockpile sufficient supplies, and those reserves required large sums to replenish regularly. In these conditions his deficit would only grow worse.
If he did not quickly find a way to make money, he would become very passive later on.
So he said to Ye Chen, “About forty kilometres from here there is an oilfield, currently controlled by the opposition. It produces around five to six thousand barrels of oil per day. This is the nearest oilfield to me. Apart from that, within one hundred kilometres there are three or four other oilfields, all in opposition hands.”
