Chapter 11: Making Money from Americans with American Oil (Part 2)
"Liu told me to tell you, don't doubt his correctness. If you're afraid of investment failure, then don't invest. But once the oil is extracted later on, your shares won't be 20% anymore, but 10%." Schneider conveyed Liu's words to David.
"But... I'll think about it." David had been doing business for over a decade, although he hadn't touched the oil industry before. However, having dinner and drinks with those oil tycoons from time to time, he roughly knew that exploring oil was like buying lottery tickets - you wouldn't win just by wanting to. Moreover, the investment in oil exploration was huge, and Liu Wei still had to buy land before exploring, which seemed like a waste of money to David. Nevertheless, considering Liu Wei's magical reputation in David's heart, he decided not to completely dismiss it after all.
Whether or not David invested, the "Daqing Petroleum Company" was registered in April 1899 in Austin, Texas, USA and immediately began acquiring land around Fort Worth in north-central Texas and Pecos in western Texas.
From the earliest settlers of Texas in the early 19th century, no one wanted anything to do with the western half of the state. The approximately 600-mile stretch from Fort Worth to El Paso was a dry and lifeless plain, mostly flat like a frying pan, unbearably hot. After the Indians were driven out, it was discovered that West Texas had little use except for grazing cattle, and years of drought drove many small ranchers back east. There was no reason to go to West Texas in this era, but there were plenty of reasons to leave; most counties in West Texas had only a few paved roads, one town, perhaps with a few hundred people. To most Texans, the area was an unimaginable place, a hell filled with herds of cattle.
When a man named Daqing Petroleum Company waved checks and US dollars to find the remaining farmers, asking for acquisition of local land in the name of European investors, these farmers were eager to sell their own land, they didn't care who it was or what they wanted to do, their primary goal was to escape this damned hell as soon as possible. The local county government also hated to sell a few broken hotels and taverns in the county town to this unlucky European guy, not only did not stop him but opened the green light, all procedures were fast and loose.
After less than three months of scrambling, Schneider had acquired the leases to nearly 800 square miles of land, all for under $3 million. The Big Quicksand Oil Company and Schneider became not only the largest ranchers in Texas but also the laughing stock of Texans over dinner conversations.
After acquiring the land, Schneider also acquired several nearly bankrupt "Night Cat Explorer" teams under David's introduction, along with 100 technicians "hired" from Taiwan, and started exploring oil on a large scale.
"Wildcatter" is a native American small-scale exploration team, generally consisting of several or dozens of people who invest together. They use one or several drilling machines to explore oil for local farmers who need exploration services, and get a share of the profits. At that time, such teams were very common in states like Kansas and Oklahoma in the United States, but successful ones were rare.
Exploration began simultaneously from two areas, one group west of Fort Worth and the other in far western Texas at Pecos. Due to the arid and hot conditions here, except for Gobi it was desert, survival conditions were extremely harsh, Schneider spent more money on logistics than personnel salaries.
David still couldn't fully trust Liu, so he only invested 10% of the oil company's shares. In David's words, the other 10% was given to Liu as a gift for becoming the President of Taiwan.
In April 1899, the "Dagang Oil Company" had already drilled 11 dry wells in Worsburg. Schneider sat in a hot and dry wooden house, his whole body soaked, listening to the rumble of the drilling machine outside, feeling like he was really falling into hell. This damned place didn't have clear river water, bustling streets, cool sea breeze, or charming prostitutes, only sun, sand, cow dung, flies, and terrifying high temperatures.
"The last well has been drilled, and if no more oil comes out, the workers won't be willing to continue either," said the boss. Sitting with him in the house was the head of the drilling team, whose original "Wildcat Exploration Team" had been sold to the current boss, Schneider.
"Am I not paying you? Is the pay I give you too little?" Schneider shouted impatiently at this Edgar, who was in charge.
"Oh, no, boss, you've got it wrong. Your wages are very high and on time. I'm saying that not one of the 12 wells is producing oil. In my experience, this place doesn't have any oil at all. You should call in that guy who told you there was oil here too, let's hang him together in the desert." Edgar muttered to himself.
"P's experience, if you have experience, your expedition team won't go bankrupt, get out of here!!!!!!" Schneider also lost his patience and roared at Edgar.
"Rrrooaaaaar...!" With Schneider's roar, a tearing sound suddenly rang out, and the wooden floorboards in the house shook slightly. Schneider was taken aback and quickly closed his mouth, looking at Edgar with searching eyes as he was about to roll out.
"Oh God... It's spouting oil! It's spouting oil!" Edgar didn't mind Schneider's glare, experience told him that it wasn't Schneider's bellowing, but the oil well erupting. He couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Schneider, opened the door and rushed out.
"What did you say? Wait for me..." Schneider heard the two words "come out" and didn't care about the scorching sun outside, grabbed his hat and followed him out.
In the distance, several isolated derricks stood upright on dry land. From the farthest one, a black column was struggling to leave the ground and spouting into the clear Texas sky.
