In the following days, Bradman and the others had frequent contacts with OPEC headquarters far away in Vienna. They sent back to Vienna the technical information provided by China from Garrard and others, and asked the technical experts at the headquarters to analyze and determine whether China has really mastered the new coal-to-oil process, whether this process can effectively reduce the cost of coal-to-oil, and whether this process can be quickly promoted.

Vienna conducted a comprehensive investigation and unexpectedly found that in the past five years, China has silently applied for hundreds of key patents involving coal-to-oil technology, and as for those auxiliary patents on the border, there are countless. After analyzing the technical data and the content of these patents, OPEC experts came to a conclusion: the Chinese are not bluffing, but have really mastered this technology.

Experts have another more terrifying prediction, that is, based on the existing basis, the Chinese may develop more advanced processes to reduce the price of refined oil by 20% to 40%. By then, even if crude oil prices fall back to the level at the end of 2003, that is, the level of US$30 per barrel, coal-to-oil will be competitive.

The Chinese must stop this crazy behavior!

This is an order issued by OPEC headquarters to Bradman and Graeme.

"I think the Chinese will not give up on this technology." Gram discussed with Bradman with grievance.

"I think we still have room for negotiation with the Chinese." Bradman seemed quite calm. He analyzed: "Think about it, the last time Mr. Feng asked us to ensure oil supply and limit oil prices, and said that if we don't agree, they will take follow-up actions. In other words, he gave us a choice at that time, that is, if we promise their conditions, they will cancel the follow-up actions. Now that he has shown us his strength, I think he should still be willing to give us a chance."

"But since they have mastered the technology of coal-to-oil, as long as they promote this technology, they can suppress oil prices. Why do they have to negotiate with us?"

"This is exactly the mystery. Since they have such ability, he had to negotiate with us last time. Don't you think there is any problem with this?"

"Indeed, the Chinese must have other ideas." Grame also reacted. Isn't it often played like this in movies? The villain held a gun in his hand. He could have killed the protagonist with one shot, but kept shouting to the protagonist. This is what he meant to have another idea. As long as the other party had a goal, he had a chance. This is how the protagonist's bloody plots of the Jedi counterattack happened. This time, Feng Xiaochen was undoubtedly a villain. I'm a very sinister villain. He might have the chance to become a hero who saved the earth.

After unifying the opinions, Bradman and Grame visited the Ministry of Commerce again and raised the request to hold a new talk with Chinese officials, including Feng Xiaochen. Xu Zhenbo hummed and agreed, and delayed it for another week before notifying Bradman and his party that General Manager Feng was finally free and could resume the talks with them. The meeting location was still in the Ministry of Commerce, and it was the conference room where they held the last talks.

"Mr. Feng, I'm very happy, we're meeting again."

At the door of the conference room, Bradman took the initiative to walk towards Feng Xiaochen, reached out to shake hands with him, and at the same time he made a bright smile on his face as much as possible, and he did not look as sloppy as last time.

"Mr. Bradman, Mr. Grame, I'm very happy to meet you again." Feng Xiaochen's expression was very relaxed, and even made people feel a little proud. Bradman decided to find a corner to draw a row of small circles to curse this villain when he returned to the hotel in the evening.

Xu Zhenbo still acted as the host. He called the staff of both sides into the conference room, took the seats of the host and the meeting, and announced the start of the talks. After everyone exchanged a few greetings and reiterated the long-lasting friendly relationship between the two sides, Bradman got to the point.

"Mr. Feng and Mr. Xu, after the last talks, OPEC had a serious discussion on the issue of stabilizing oil supply to China. Representatives of all member states believe that as the world's largest crude oil importer, China's concerns about crude oil supply and oil prices are understandable. We came to China this time to hear about China's specific requirements on this issue so that OPEC can formulate corresponding policies and maintain a good cooperative relationship between the two sides." Bradman said very artistically.

"For this issue, Director Xu should ask Director Xu to talk about it." Feng Xiaochen kicked the ball to Xu Zhenbo. He himself was in charge of equipment manufacturing and had nothing to do with oil imports. The matter of raising conditions is the task of the Ministry of Commerce.

Xu Zhenbo was also unscrupulous and immediately began to state the requirements that the Ministry of Commerce had prepared long ago, roughly hoping that OPEC could sign a long-term crude oil supply agreement with China to ensure the quantity of oil exports to China and the corresponding price obligations. In terms of price, China is not too harsh. It just proposed that when international oil prices rise, OPEC's oil export price to China must be controlled within a certain range and cannot be fully followed. In other words, we do not care about how international oil prices rise, but the oil given to us cannot rise too much, and we need a price that both sides can accept.

Although the Ministry of Commerce knows that it has grasped the other party's shortcomings, it is impossible for the Ministry of Commerce to force the other party to be too anxious. For example, the international oil price has risen to $100 per barrel, and it is impossible for OPEC to sell it to you at $30. But if it comes to $70 or $80, it is much easier for the other party to accept it. International oil prices are actually a general concept. There are countless oil contracts in the world, and the agreed transaction prices are very different. What China needs is only a certain degree of discount. This discount is enough to allow Chinese goods to maintain a price advantage in international trade, which is enough.

Bradman came to negotiate with OPEC's authorization and was mentally prepared for the conditions proposed by Xu Zhenbo. After listening carefully, he said that OPEC would consider these requirements, and then pretended to be inadvertent and said: "Mr. Xu, if OPEC can meet your country's requirements, then from the perspective of friendly cooperation between the two sides, can your government also make some statements?"

"What kind of expression does OPEC hope our government will make?" Xu Zhenbo asked knowingly.

"We noticed that your country has just started construction of a coal-to-oil factory in Shanbei Province with an annual output of 4 million tons. Once this technology is widely promoted, it will inevitably have a serious impact on the international oil market, which will affect the economic stability of OPEC countries. We are deeply concerned about the application of this technology. I would like to ask Mr. Xu, if we can give China special discounts in oil supply and oil prices, will China give up this project in Shanbei Province?" Bradman asked.

"This is impossible." Feng Xiaochen answered for Xu Zhenbo, "Mr. Bradman, this project we carried out in Shanbei Province has nothing to do with OPEC. This is a technology developed by our Equipment Industry Company itself, and there is no intention to target OPEC."

"Of course, I believe it deeply." Bradman said that he was not here to argue, but to find peace, so it is not advisable to expose Feng Xiaochen's lies at this time. He said: "Although your company did not mean to target OPEC when it was developing this technology, its production will inevitably affect the structure of the energy market and thus have an impact on OPEC countries. Mr. Feng does not deny this?"

Feng Xiaochen said lightly: "Energy is a big industry. The development of coal-to-oil technology will certainly have an impact on the energy market. Other technologies, such as nuclear power, hydropower, wind power, solar energy, etc., will also have an impact on the energy market. Should OPEC pay attention to it one by one?"

"We will pay attention to these things in our daily lives," said Bradman. "We will pay attention to all the innovations in energy technology. However, coal-to-oil technology poses the greatest threat to us. Once coal-to-oil technology is widely promoted, the demand for oil in the market will decline. Mr. Feng should be very clear about this, right?"

"Well, maybe that's the case." Feng Xiaochen nodded. It's not appropriate to always pretend to be stupid. He originally planned to negotiate with the other party, but just now he was playing with the other party for a while, just to expose the last anger. Now that he is so angry, there is no need to go around with the other party anymore.

"Mr. Bradman, Mr. Grame, I admit that the development of coal-to-oil technology will first have a serious impact on the oil market. Because of this, in the last meeting, I specially put forward the request to you to negotiate and resolve the problem, but unfortunately, you did not give me an appropriate response." Feng Xiaochen said.

Bradman said: "Mr. Feng probably misunderstood. The reason we did not answer Feng Xiaochen's request last time is because we did not get authorization from OPEC headquarters and we cannot make any promises. This time, we came with authorization, and we had fully communicated with Mr. Xu just now. I would like to ask Mr. Feng what kind of promises China will give us after we make such concessions?"

"We can consider taking a more cautious attitude when transferring this technology to other countries." Feng Xiaochen gave an answer.

Bradman and Graeme looked at each other. Damn, what is this condition? This means that China will deploy more coal-to-oil projects and will still transfer this technology to countries like Australia, which is only "more cautious" at best.
Chapter completed!