Selling oil across Libya

Chapter 77 Alliance

Before the colonel came to power, Libya had 10 provinces.

In 1983, Libya carried out administrative reforms, abolishing the provincial system and implementing the Baladiyat system, which was dominated by tribes.

Baladiyat means "town" or "district".

After the interim government divided the country into 22 provinces, newly established government agencies sprang up everywhere in Libya.

Accompanying this was a surge in administrative staff and a dramatic increase in expenses.

The current Libyan government has gone a step further than the Baladiyat system, with only two first-level administrative units in the country: Tripoli and Benghazi. All other port cities are also directly administered by the Libyan government.

This decision was met with strong opposition from many people, especially the executive officers appointed by the provisional government.

These administrators have largely joined the Eastern Front alliance formed by Samir.

Yuri not only ignored the demands of the Eastern Front Alliance, but also directly ordered the dissolution of the Eastern Front Alliance.

They also sent people to investigate whether Samir had violated the Agency Registration Act.

In Libya during the Colonel's era, the Declaration of the People's Rights explicitly prohibited all political party activities in legal form.

Although the Eastern Front Alliance did not put forward a clear program, it also falls within the scope of what is explicitly prohibited by the Declaration of the People's Rights.

Qin Rui ignored the Eastern Front Alliance and focused his attention on the Hummer he had just bought.

Although Hummer has very few valuable assets left besides the brand itself.

Cyrenaica Investments still spent $1.5 million to acquire Hummer.

After oil production increased to 1.5 million barrels, $150 million was just a matter of a day or so.

To Qin Rui's surprise, the collaboration between GM and Cyrenaica Investment Company was met with unanimous ridicule from the outside world.

During the Colonel's era, Libya had an extremely weak industrial base.

Although Libyan-made drones are beginning to show promise in Benghazi, the outside world is not optimistic that the Hummer brand can regain its former glory under the ownership of Cyrenaica Investment Company.

Time magazine described the collaboration as "a combination of an alcoholic and a gambler," believing that Hummer, a brand beloved by Americans, would be completely ruined.

Love my ass!

If Americans really liked Hummer, Hummer production wouldn't have stopped.

After receiving Qin Rui's promise, Christopher went to Guinea and made contact with the Guinean government regarding the Simandou iron ore mine.

Qin Rui exchanged a professional manager named Douglas from the system, who was in full charge of the operation of the "Hummer" brand.

As per Qin Rui's request, Douglas was to travel to Italy to design a new Hummer model and redesign the overall image of the Hummer to better suit East Asian aesthetics.

That's right, while Hummer won't abandon the US market, it certainly won't focus on it anymore.

At the same time, we also need to set up factories in East Asia to meet the needs of the East Asian market to the greatest extent possible.

Ding Jian expressed his strong welcome to Qin Rui's decision.

Some foreign companies are really shameless. They want to make profits from the East Asian market, but they don't want to cater to the East Asian market and make customers beg for money.

Qin Rui chose to locate the factory in East Asia not only because of the market prospects and industrial chain there, but also because he valued the manufacturing potential of East Asia.

Last year, East Asia proactively implemented industrial transformation and upgrading, promoted the deep integration of information technology and industry, developed digital, networked, and intelligent manufacturing, and achieved a leapfrog development.

Qin Rui hopes to take advantage of the industrial upgrading trend to push Libya's automated manufacturing to a new level.

While welcoming Qin Rui to build a factory in East Asia, Ding Jian took the initiative to mention the Simandou iron ore mine to Qin Rui.

As the world's largest steel producer, East Asia imported approximately 6.86 million tons of iron ore last year.

In order to break the international mining giants' monopoly on iron ore, East Asian companies are determined to acquire the Simandou iron ore mine.

Back in 2010, Rio Tinto signed a cooperation agreement with Chinalco, under which Chinalco acquired a 47% stake in South Zone 3 and 4.

However, acquiring the equity was of little use. Rio Tinto, as an international mining giant, had no intention of developing the Simandou iron ore mine in order to maintain its iron ore profits. Chinalco was thoroughly outmaneuvered.

After the Guinean government revoked BSG's mining rights, it decided to re-tender for North Zone 1 and 2.

Ding Jian reminded Qin Rui that if Xilaniga Investment Company intended to participate in the North District bidding, it should be prepared to face difficulties.

"The environment and basic transportation infrastructure aren't the problems; the key issue is Guinea's unstable political situation. Policies change daily, and a bunch of bastards are constantly interfering and sabotaging things. It's a nightmare!"

Overwhelmed with grief, Ding Jian expressed his deep sorrow.

The "bastard" Ding Jian refers to not only has partners, but also the omnipresent colonial overlord.

The entire Central African Republic is within France's traditional sphere of influence, and France still maintains military presence in several Central African countries under the guise of "counter-terrorism."

"The jungles of Africa are not suitable for people with high moral standards to live in."

Qin Rui's words were meaningful.

Ding Jian smiled wryly. East Asia had set too many rules and regulations for itself, tying its own hands and feet.

"How much money did you lose in this coup in Guinea?"

Qin Rui lamented their misfortune and was angered by their lack of ambition: "How much did they pay to preserve their shares in the Southern District?"

Ding Jian remained silent, his emotions running high.

"I know you have the concept of paying tuition, but if you pay tuition, you should at least learn something, right? You can't just be treated like a fool and made a fool of."

Qin Rui only reasoned with reasonable people; when he encountered a scoundrel, he would be even more scoundrel than the scoundrel.

These small warlords in Africa don't care about national development; they just want to make money while they're in power, and once they've made enough, they're set on doing whatever they want.

Following the coup in Guinea, the new president awarded part of the development rights for the northern region to an Israeli company.

The cost is said to be one hundred million US dollars.

A mine with an annual output of 1.2 million tons, given away like that, that's incredibly generous.

"President Qin, if Cyrenaica Investment Company is interested in bidding, I can contact East Asia Enterprises to form an alliance with Cyrenaica Investment Company and jointly participate in the bidding."

Ding Jian took the initiative to seek Qin Rui's help.

For Ding Jian, money is not an issue.

In the eyes of international mining giants, East Asian steel companies are like easy prey.

In 2005, iron ore prices surged by 75%; in 08, they rose by another 96%. East Asian steel companies were left helpless, paying more than 7000 billion yuan in extra costs due to rising iron ore prices.

The reason why Chinalco invested heavily in the Simandou iron ore mine is to break the monopoly of international mining giants on iron ore prices.

Based on this, tens or hundreds of billions are simply not much money.

"How do we form an alliance?"

Qin Rui was extremely interested.

"We will jointly invest in and establish a company, and allocate iron ore shares according to the proportion of investment. If Mr. Qin has more iron ore than he needs, we can purchase it at market price, as much as he has."

Ding Jian did not compromise his principles in pursuit of cooperation.

This is the right attitude to have when doing business.