MTLNOVEL Chapter 637: The Right Business
Joe Ga had immediately comforted those Kurdish individuals first.
Providing them with safe accommodations, piping hot meals, clean clothes, offering them respect, and giving them hope…
This was a habitual tactic of Boss Joe, to secure the support of the grassroots forces upon entering a new area.
Then he would look for an opponent, preferably a tough, resistant one that could allow P·B to make a big show of the situation, fully displaying their muscle.
In chaotic regions, playing possum had no market. If one had a knife, it was best to flash it, waking those unclear-headed folks up as a form of respect for life.
Honestly speaking, the military bases left by the Americans in Iraq were reliably constructed.
Part of the barracks was allocated for Kurdish use, and several large armories were designated as restricted areas; the rest was free for use as they wished.
P·B wasn't regular military, so there was no need to be too strict. This airbase would serve as a logistics hub, together with Basra in the south and Mosul in the north.
Boss Joe's major earnings lay on this corridor—driving out ISIS would allow the establishment of a supply route traversing north to south in Iraq.
In truth, compared to the huge profits from oil fields, the not-so-large P·B would inevitably exit this business once stability returned to Iraq. Even if contracting with the Iraqi Government's oil fields for eight years brought only 30% of the profits, it was already enough.
With such business, one must leave once profits suffice, lest it invites envy and trouble.
Just as with the American oil companies exiting from Shah-ruled areas before, drafting an exit mechanism allowed for negotiated prices in goodwill, preserving dignity and influence.
This humanitarian corridor was a more tangible and influential asset for Joe Ga.
Turning oil field revenue into supplies, and cleansing this corridor with meager profits or even at break-even costs, a market would quickly be formed.
It was completely legitimate business that no one could deprive or censure.
Even shielded by Princess Amina's halo, any mention of tariffs would be met with global media backlash.
"Most Favored Trading Partner" was a title and treatment Joe Ga must strive for.
For a middleman, reaching this level meant that it was time for Boss Joe to reap benefits from both ends—a real enduring profit.
This was far safer than him, the "little white rabbit," meddling with those unscrupulous energy companies.
Boss Joe's tangible industries were all in Africa, a place he could fully control.
In other places, he was just a "chef" paying for meals; after P·B made a little tip from the clients, and scrounged some extras from the corners, it was time to leave.
The chef does not take the table!
Up to now, Steven and Eric were still focused on the oil business, only Chris, who understood the complete context, could grasp Boss Joe's strategy and realized that his ultimate goal was never the oil fields.
The oil fields were just a leverage point to influence all the big players, never a target for P·B.
Recognizing one's capabilities and identifying the target, are prerequisites of "non-greediness"!
Chris was thoroughly convinced now, and that same night, he left the military base with his bodyguards to contact representatives of the XN and SY factions, vowing to make them peacefully sit at the dining table arranged by Boss Joe.
Meanwhile, Steven took Ahmed, the lingering Minister of Energy, to meet with Joe Ga at the military base.
The two parties had a smooth discussion, as Joe Ga's solution was urgently needed by the Iraqi Government…
The draft contract was that the management of the Rumaila Oil Field, overseen by the Iraqi Government, would be handed over to P·B.
P·B would hold a 50% equity in the oil field for three years, then it would decrease by 10% annually until it reached 20%, at which point both parties could initiate negotiations.
If the Iraqi Government intended to buy back the oil field rights, they would need to pay three times that year's 20% revenue based on the current oil price as a penalty fee; otherwise, P·B would continue to hold a 20% stake for five more years.
P·B was responsible for getting the oil field back into operation and needed to increase its output to 500,000 barrels within a year and to 800,000 barrels after three years.
If the output did not meet the standard without war or force majeure, P·B had to compensate the Iraqi Government at a rate of US $3.5 per barrel.
If the production exceeded the targeted amount, P·B would take an additional US $5 for every extra barrel of crude oil.
In addition, P·B was to provide logistical support to the anti-ISIS coalition in the first year and maintain a supply line from the south to the north on its own.
As assistance to its partners, after consultations between the Iraqi and American Governments, four military bases near Basra, Baghdad, Gaiyara, and Mosul left by the United States Army were handed over to P·B for $4 million.
There were many other points in the contract, concerning settlement methods, oil exchange for supplies, oil exchange for infrastructure…
Many of these clauses needed triggers, but most were internal matters of Iraq.
Boss Joe did not want to intervene in Iraqi domestic affairs. His stance was that at least 30% of your shares must contribute to reconstructing Iraq and this must be recorded on paper to provide a stable political situation for me.
As for the remaining shares, I can deposit them in an Iraqi Government-designated account. How you use them is no concern of mine.
Ahmed witnessed Joe Ga's prowess, as 500 Kurdish fighters along with a continuous supply of military munitions were indeed a bit terrifying for Iraq at present.
Previously, this fellow only wanted money, and Steven had promised him that he could arrange for his entire family to go to America once the contract was in effect.
But now he felt he wanted money too, and it would be best not to lose the position of Minister of Energy, as it seemed he could benefit a bit longer.
Compared to Ahmed, his assistant Salim was very excited…
The conditions Joe Ga proposed were not harsh; the "Rumaila Oil Field" had been shut down for a long time and had experienced many years of war, with militias still present nearby.
To restart work not only required a huge investment but also balancing the interests of those militias, plus mining costs. If they followed what P·B promised, they estimated not making any money in the first two years, and there were significant risks.
Salim, as a professional, naturally knew that Joe would bring in Chinese energy companies to foot the bill, but in business, calculations were only on paper, and their abilities were irrelevant to you.
Actually, Salim did not care about Joe Ga making money from Iraq; he cared that the hope for integrating Iraq's oil resources had appeared.
In the eyes of Salim, the patriot, Iraq, possessing vast amounts of oil, should not have impoverished people.
Ending the chaos, integrating resources, even if everyone came to "drink Iraq's blood" together, as long as there was enough time, Iraq could prosper again.
And now P·B could offer significant help in these crucial respects.
It seemed only he could make those Western energy companies give up their greed and let Iraq's oil fields quickly restart work.
.........
Salim did not understand that the obstacles to the energy companies restarting work were not just warfare but also the hostility of the locals, huge labor costs, and most importantly, the uncertain local situation caused by the corruption of the Iraqi Government.
Joe Ga had seized this moment to persuade those already impatient American energy companies to release the contracting rights.
It was incredibly ironic; the Americans had gone to great lengths to take down the Shah, but actually, at this stage, American oil companies held less than 12% of the oil reserves in Iraq.
The major shares were in the hands of the Russians and the English, with Russia holding 20%, and the English together with the Malaysians holding 38%, while China also had 21%.
These were of course only the rights to exploit, and due to the complex shareholding of several major oil fields, most could not start operation.
The Americans had won but did not capitalize fully on the oil fields, also because they controlled the interests in currency and indeed governed the Iraqi Government effectively.
Plus, the American energy companies had better places, their own backyards in North America and South America were awash with oil, and the infrastructure there was far better than in Iraq; they didn't need to desperately grapple with locals who hated them.
Therefore, Steven's plan went through very smoothly, everyone gladly agreed to Joe's win-win cooperation plan, and joined the lobbying team that urged Congress to pass the $500 million secret funds transfer, intending to turn a stalemate into an opportunity.
Chinese hoped to use Joe to genuinely pry open a gap that would allow them to start operations and send oil back home. After all, owning shares alone was useless, wasn't it?
Joe's oil field business was easily processed by them; once they obtained the American share of the contracting rights, it meant fewer troubles in transporting the crude oil externally.
Large corporations have their own stances; they have to cooperate with governments and cannot initiate conflicts with local militant factions on their own.
Frankly, in Iraq, if you don't count the regular army, you can't defeat them anyway.
Only a company like P·B, with such a profile, could balance the interests of all parties.
Do big corporations care about spending money for peace?
They do not!
But they cannot be made fools of!
Someone capable of supervising the local armed factions' adherence to agreements must stand there; the Iraqi Government lacked this ability, but P·B could!
Joe was not only willing to share benefits but also had the capacity to penalize breaches of contract.
P·B, being a mercenary company, if it came to a head, as long as the patrons were willing to pay, he dared to wage war against "robbers" in Iraq.
With shared interests in counterterrorism, the support P·B could receive under these circumstances was beyond ordinary people's imagination.
......
While Joe Ga was talking with Ahmed, a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship passed closely by the American aircraft carrier fleet and slowly entered the port of Iraq.
Thousands of containers were unloaded at the port. Then, under the direction of a few individuals wearing energy company badges, they were labeled with P·B markings. Subsequently, large groups of locals, under the protection of armed security, began transporting these containers to Baghdad with container trucks.
This significant action made the heads of the mercenary giants based in Basra a bit jittery.
Everyone knew P·B was the convener of this major transaction; everyone was holding their breath, wishing ISIS would stir up just a bit more trouble, to give them room to raise prices.
But now the situation seemed a bit off…