Chapter 206: A Bold Hypothesis

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

That evening, Tang Rui and his group didn’t return to the city but stayed here instead.

They had a hearty dinner.

An open-air barbecue was set up.

One hand cuddling a panda, the other eating skewers.

Looking up, they could see the stars; looking down, they saw beautiful black legs. This was more enjoyable than staying in a hotel in the city.

Furthermore, sleeping arrangements were easily sorted out. Gao Yang spent the night at the research institute’s dormitory, while Tang Rui and Li Shuyao stayed in the RV.

Before sleeping, Tang Rui opened the RV’s corner supports to prevent it from swaying.

Thus, they slept until naturally waking up.

By the time Tang Rui got up the next day, several expert groups had already arrived.

This included people from the Sichuan Provincial Oil Group and PetroChina.

Among them were two big shots from the Academy of Science and the Academy of Engineering.

“Sorry, I woke up late and made everyone wait. My apologies,” Tang Rui said somewhat embarrassedly.

Making two professors wait for him to wake up was somewhat awkward.

“You’re young; it’s normal to sleep a bit longer. We old men, even if we want to, can’t sleep that much,” said Professor Zhao from the Academy of Sciences, a leader in geological research, with a smile, not minding this at all.

Tang Rui, seeing the panda in Professor Zhao’s hands, also nodded.

Cuddling a panda… Truly, it knew no age or gender bounds.

“President Tang, can this old man take a look at the equipment first?” Professor Shen from the Academy of Engineering, less calm, directly asked.

“Look at the equipment?” Tang Rui was taken aback by the question.

“Yes, the geological data you sent yesterday, what equipment was used for its detection?” Professor Shen nodded.

“That… A new type of detection equipment.”

“May I see it?”

“Sure, there’s nothing to it.”

After saying this, Tang Rui went back to the vehicle and brought down the equipment.

This equipment did not surpass current technological levels. Its lack of development was mainly due to different thinking approaches and levels of importance given.

If humans hadn’t focused on space exploration, but instead devoted efforts to drilling and reaching the Earth’s core, then our technological reserves in geological research and exploration would have been much more substantial.

Perhaps even large drilling machinery would have been developed by now.

After Tang Rui finished eating, everyone went to the conference room to discuss the issue of underground shale oil.

Both the Sichuan Provincial Oil and PetroChina were here for the shale oil, especially the former, hoping to find a large oil field in Sichuan Province and start extracting immediately.

From a geological standpoint, there should be oil fields under Sichuan Province.

But the problem was, up until now, no significant oil fields had been found in Sichuan, although plenty of mineral resources were discovered.

Especially lithium ore, known as white oil, with an astonishing reserve of 520,000 tons.

The Koreans and Japanese were envious to the point of tears.

Back to the main topic.

The oil companies were here for the shale oil, but the two professors had different reasons.

professor Shen was interested in the geological exploration equipment,

While Professor Zhao wanted Tang Rui to accompany him to the northeast.

“To the northeast?” Tang Rui asked, puzzled, after hearing this.

“Yes, President Tang. The shale oil you discovered is actually not significant in our country.

The northeast has the largest reserves of shale oil,” Professor Zhao nodded.

“And the underground shale oil here?” Tang Rui inquired.

“For Sichuan Province, just confirming the reserves is enough. For environmental reasons, there’s no need to extract the shale oil here,” professor Zhao concluded.

The PetroChina representatives didn’t mind this decision, but the Sichuan Provincial Oil Group’s people’s expressions changed instantly.

At Professor Zhao’s level, his opinions were usually adopted by the higher-ups.

He said no extraction.

So, there would be no extraction.

Even if the Sichuan Provincial Oil Group was desperate, their opinions honestly didn’t matter much.

“President Tang, our Sichuan Provincial Oil Group welcomes Crimson to invest here. Whether in mining or oil fields, there’s no problem,” the representatives hurriedly said.

They knew they couldn’t sway Professor Zhao’s thinking, but there was still a chance with Tang Rui’s involvement.

Before coming, their superiors had specifically instructed them.

So, they laid it out clearly for Tang Rui.

Come on.

If your Crimson Corporation came over, whether for mining or oil extraction, there’d be no issues.

Tang Rui smiled upon hearing this but did not make a direct statement.

To be honest, he wasn’t interested in other money; it was all small change.

But the money from oil, that he valued.

It was like a money-printing machine, just sitting at home counting money every day, not troublesome at all.

But Professor Zhao was right.

Destroying the local environment for the sake of extracting shale oil was definitely not advisable.

So, he didn’t express his opinion.

“Elder Zhao, could you briefly explain the issue of shale oil extraction? I don’t know much about it,” Tang Rui thought for a moment and asked.

“There’s nothing to it. Simply put, extracting shale oil is quite complicated. It’s not just about drilling a well underground and the oil gushing out by itself.

The extraction of shale oil requires a large amount of water resources. The current extraction technology is divided into several types…” Professor Zhao began to explain the issue of extracting shale oil to Tang Rui.

After hearing this, Tang Rui frowned.

Howto put it?

Extracting shale oil was indeed a bit troublesome.

Especially with current technology, the environmental impact would be significant, and the cost high.

After hearing this, he was less inclined to engage in this.

Even if he did, he couldn’t use the existing technology to extract shale oil; he’d need to create new equipment and use the system panel for upgrades and enhancements.

“Thank you, Elder Zhao. 1 think I understand the issue of extracting shale oil. 1’11 carefully study the specific technical problems,” Tang Rui responded.

“So, President Tang, when are we going to the northeast?” Professor Zhao inquired about Tang Rui’s plans.

“To the northeast… I want to clarify the underground shale oil reserves here before going there,” Tang Rui said after a moment of thought. Sichuan Province had sent a giant panda, so it wouldn’t be good to leave straight away. He had to confirm the reserves first.

“Alright, I also want to look at the geological conditions here,” Professor Zhao nodded, saying no more.

For someone in his line of geological work, it was normal to stay outdoors for ten days to half a month. Staying here for two days was no big deal at all.

Then, Tang Rui, carrying two ‘dumplings’, brought Professor Zhao and Professor Shen to the RV, waiting for the robot to activate the equipment.

Others weren’t allowed in due to insufficient security clearance.

When the Sichuan Provincial Oil Group’s representatives saw Tang Rui taking away the two ‘dumplings’, and Li Shuyao no longer had any ‘dumplings’ to cuddle, they immediately called their superiors.

In less than an hour, six small ‘dumplings’ were delivered to the research institute.

“Ms. Li, these ‘dumplings’ are all very lively…”

The representatives from the Sichuan Provincial Oil Group began to act as breeders, using the ‘dumplings’ to win over Li Shuyao, hoping she would speak favorably on their behalf.

Sichuan Province lacked nothing but ‘dumplings.’

Forget six.

If time allowed, they could bring over sixty small ‘dumplings’ to cry at you together in the yard.

Who could resist that?

In the blink of an eye, a day passed.

Tang Rui and the two professors stayed inside the RV the whole time.

At this point, their expressions were quite strange.

How should he say it?

After a day of continuous detection and scanning, the underground shale oil reserves had not been clarified.

Because they discovered a problem.

It seemed that shale oil was everywhere underground. Below the shale oil, there were even a few small oil fields.

Additionally, based on a day’s scanning, they had a bold hypothesis: beneath the surface’s geological structure, except for the areas occupied by special mineral veins, most of the terrain had an oil layer underneath.

Not just oil, but an oil layer.

Similar to an underground water layer, it was another layer underground, containing oil, a type of geological structure.

This was a bold guess, and it lacked theoretical support.

But the problem was, after a day of exploration, they found that there were shale oil and gas layers everywhere underground, which was beyond their expectations.

According to the currently proven reserves, there were more than 2.7 billion tons underground, not including the two small oil fields buried deep underground..