Selling oil across Libya

Chapter 23 The Hand of Justice

The fighting in Sirte was not over yet. The colonel was still giving a high-profile speech on the radio, calling on Libyans to take up arms and fight back against foreign invaders and rebel groups supported by foreign powers.

Cameron and Sarkozy's high-profile visit to Sirte at this time, reaping the rewards of their victory, was rather unseemly.

Washington's low profile in Libya is due to the Middle East.

In 2011, for Washington, the most important thing was not Libya, but the two wars that were taking place in the Middle East.

The war in Afghanistan, which began in 2001, has now lasted for ten years.

The Iraq War, which broke out in 2003, has also lasted for eight years.

In March of this year, a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) showed that the United States had spent $1.283 trillion on these two wars.

In June, research from Brown University showed that the CRS report significantly underestimated the true cost of these two wars.

Brown University, after taking into account all expenditures including veterans' medical care, disability benefits, and interest on debts incurred due to the war, concluded that the U.S. government has paid approximately $3.7 trillion to $4.4 trillion for the two wars.

Interest expenses alone amount to as much as $1 trillion.

These two wars also explain why the United States adopted a "behind-the-scenes leadership" strategy in the Libyan war, relying mainly on NATO allies to carry it out and not deploying large numbers of ground troops.

The United States will hold its 57th presidential election next November. President Obama, who is actively seeking re-election, announced at the beginning of the year that he would withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Iraq in batches.

Under these circumstances, the United States cannot and is unwilling to become deeply involved in a new war.

If Cameron and Sarkozy believe that Britain and France can seize their interests in Libya while Washington is preoccupied with other matters, they are mistaken.

Think about how Eunice died.

If Magariaf completely sided with Britain and France, he wouldn't last long as president.

Qin Rui ignored Benghazi, even though the Alwafa oil field only produces 10 barrels per day.

Even at $110 per barrel, that's 1100 million per day.

In 2011, the world's daily oil consumption was approximately 8800 million barrels.

This is where Qin Rui's confidence comes from.

With the first barrel of oil from the Alwafa oil field flowing through the pipeline into the Zawiya refinery, Zawiya, which had been silent for three months, finally resumed production.

Qin Rui took a picture of the oil refinery resuming operations, logged into his "Numidia Little Translator" account, and posted a message titled "Zaviye Oil Refinery Resumes Operations, Large Amount of Oil Available for Sale, Interested Parties Please Contact Us".

To Qin Rui's surprise, this post did not quickly become a hot topic and be pinned by the forum moderator like the previous posts.

After a long while, a level 1 character named "Hand of Justice" finally asked: How much is a bucket?

Qin Rui was too lazy to check the gas price, so he casually replied: 110.

The Hand of Justice: The US Dollar?

Numidian translator: Yes.

How many hands of justice are there?

Numidian translator: It's not certain yet, but it's probably around 10 barrels per day.

Hand of Justice: NOC or NTC?

Numidian translation: Either is fine.

The Hand of Justice did not respond.

NOC is the National Oil Corporation of Libya.

The NTC is the National Transitional Council of Libya.

In March of this year, the UN Security Council passed a resolution prohibiting NOCs from selling oil, but allowing NTCs to do so.

After the interim government was established, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a general license to lift sanctions on the NOC and related Libyan government entities.

In other words, currently only the NTC and NOC are qualified to sell oil in Libya.

After registering the "Numeridian Little Translator" account, Qin Rui would post a thread on the forum every day, selling oil while also promoting Numidian tourism.

The account for "Hand of Justice" was just registered yesterday.

Qin Rui legally suspected that this account was registered specifically for Qin Rui's post.

The account "Numedia Little Translator" has now become the number one celebrity on Baidu Tieba.

However, unlike the previous posts that instantly garnered hundreds of replies, this post seemed to sink without a trace, receiving no response from anyone except for the "Hand of Justice".

Just like Qin Rui's post, which received a lukewarm reception, Yuri's attempt to contact Total also did not go smoothly.

Total was willing to buy, but only offered $50 per barrel, a price cut in half compared to the normal price.

"These bastards are taking advantage of the situation!"

Yuri was furious at Total's lack of appreciation.

"Connect with Russia and India."

Qin Rui's greatest advantage is his understanding of the international situation.

NATO oil companies, including Total, will certainly take the opportunity to drive down prices.

The caution of the "hand of justice" is understandable; after all, it's a nice guy who doesn't want to offend anyone and needs to assess the situation before making a decision.

Compared to the well-dressed and respectable NATO members, India is a rogue, and Russia is a starving and reckless scoundrel.

"Indians want to settle in rupees, and Russia has not yet formally joined the World Trade Organization, so there may be problems with settlement."

Moreover, if we sell oil to Russia, it could very likely lead to a continued deterioration in our relations with NATO.

Yuri harbored suspicions about India and Russia.

"Then let's go to the Italian and British oil companies."

Qin Rui is flexible, and NATO is not a monolithic entity.

Although Qin Rui didn't know how Cameron and Sarkozy had discussed things, the outcome was almost obvious.

During the time of the colonel, more than 80% of Libya's oil was sold to Europe. Sarkozy certainly hoped to reach a long-term cooperation agreement with the interim government to continue to obtain oil from Libya, using this as a political achievement to seek re-election.

Britain's stance is unclear, and Cameron might be there to sow discord.

Although the Numidian Brigade faces a somewhat grim situation, if it makes full use of the contradictions within NATO, its oil can still be sold.

Especially Italy.

During Operation Odyssey Dawn, Italy deployed four Tornado fighter jets, with another eight aircraft on standby aboard the light aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi. Italy also opened seven military bases for use by the coalition forces.

Magariaf only invited Cameron and Sarkozy.

Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi, who lost parliamentary majority support due to his ineffective handling of the debt crisis, was not invited.

As the NATO country closest to Libya, Italy has fallen far behind in the competition with Britain and France over Libya.

Qin Rui believed that as long as Yuri approached them, they would definitely receive a positive response from Italian oil companies, primarily Eni.

Eni is Italy’s largest state-owned integrated energy company, with businesses covering oil and gas exploration and production, refining, sales and chemicals. It accounts for approximately 85% of Italy’s oil production and 30% of its refining share.

Why?

Yuri couldn't keep up with Qin Rui's train of thought.

"Only after we sell the first shipment of oil will the real buyers emerge."

Qin Rui's true target is still the hand of justice.