102: Chapter 102 suddenly made 9 billion US dollars seem like nothing.

As Li Yi was enjoying the visual spectacle of the crystal-clear waters of Beirut at the Beirut Riviera Hotel while eating a customized seafood feast, he received a call from Lieutenant Colonel Haidari.

"Syria and Iran have already signed the oil and natural gas leasing agreement, and Major General Zaha wants to negotiate with you immediately regarding the procurement of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile," Lieutenant Colonel Haidari said impatiently.

After the signing was completed, Lieutenant Colonel Haidari immediately transferred $800,000 to Colonel Suman's account.

But seeing that $1 million had already been paid out and there were no new inflows yet, he was feeling quite anxious.

At this moment, Major General Zaha approached him and asked Lieutenant Colonel Haidari to arrange a negotiation with the arms dealer as soon as possible, as Syria urgently needed to purchase a batch of Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile.

"I am currently in Beirut. Tell Major General Zaha to come to Beirut for a detailed discussion." Li Yi saw no reason to turn away a good opportunity that had been delivered to his doorstep.

"Alright. Major General Zaha and I will rush to Beirut overnight, and we will begin negotiations tomorrow morning," Lieutenant Colonel Haidari said quite eagerly.

"Fine. Let's meet at 9 AM tomorrow morning at the same old place." Li Yi finalized the time and location for the negotiation.

The next morning, Li Yi met Major General Zaha again and noticed that the Major General seemed more confident than before, unlike last time when he had to scrape together less than $50 million for arms procurement.

"This time, Syria will provide 50 million barrels of oil and 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas to purchase the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile. With such a large procurement amount for anti-aircraft missiles, can your side deliver them in time within the year?" Major General Zaha asked directly, without any small talk.

"That is absolutely no problem," Li Yi said affirmatively.

Major General Zaha was relieved; there was sufficient supply of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, so he did not have to worry about the arms dealer being unable to deliver.

"We have no problem with pricing the 50 million barrels of oil at a 35% discount based on international oil prices. However, 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas is quite a lot; could you reduce the discount rate?"

Major General Zaha naturally hoped to raise the price of the natural gas so that he could purchase more arms.

"I can reduce the discount rate slightly," Li Yi considered it for a moment and agreed.

"For up to 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas, it will be priced at a 35% discount based on international natural gas prices; for 10 billion to 50 billion cubic meters, it will be priced at a 32% discount; for 50 billion to 100 billion cubic meters, it will be priced at a 30% discount; for 100 billion to 200 billion cubic meters, it will be priced at a 28% discount; for over 200 billion cubic meters, it will be priced at a 25% discount."

Li Yi did not believe that any country could provide over 200 billion cubic meters of natural gas at once to purchase arms, so he did not continue to further subdivide the discount standards for natural gas amounts exceeding 200 billion cubic meters.

Major General Zaha was quite satisfied to see that he had successfully negotiated a 3% reduction in the discount rate for the natural gas. The procurement funds involved in this were at least in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

And the procurement funds he had used last time were less than $200 million, meaning that just this one reduction in the discount rate alone had yielded an amount equivalent to his entire previous procurement budget.

Major General Zaha began to calculate the procurement funds he could utilize.

"The current international oil price is $70.04 per barrel. Calculated at a 35% discount based on international oil prices, the price is $45.526 per barrel. The value of 50 million barrels of oil is $2.2763 billion.

The international natural gas price is $662.5 per thousand cubic meters. Calculated at a 32% discount based on international natural gas prices, the price is $450.5 per thousand cubic meters. The value of 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas is $6.7575 billion.

The total value of the 50 million barrels of oil and 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas used this time is $9.0338 billion. Is this calculation correct?"

Li Yi did the math and said, "Yes, let's calculate it based on $9.0338 billion."

Seeing that he had $9 billion as procurement funds, Major General Zaha felt as if he could see mountains of Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile beckoning to him. "We intend to purchase this time..."

Just as Major General Zaha was about to announce his procurement plan, Li Yi interrupted him and said, "We have newly launched two models of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, namely the Tianlei Type VII Anti-Aircraft Missile and the Tianlei Type VIII Anti-Aircraft Missile. Are you interested in learning about them?"

Upon hearing that there were new anti-aircraft missile models, Major General Zaha was quite interested in knowing about their combat performance and said, "Show me the specifications."

Li Yi handed the specifications for the Tianlei Type VII Anti-Aircraft Missile and the Tianlei Type VIII Anti-Aircraft Missile to Major General Zaha and Lieutenant Colonel Haidari.

Major General Zaha saw that the operational range of these two anti-aircraft missiles exceeded 200 kilometers, and they had faster flight speeds after launch, capable of locking onto a target so quickly that fighter jets would have no time to make effective maneuvers to evade being hit by the missiles.

"What are the prices for these two Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile models?" Major General Zaha asked.

After estimating, Li Yi said, "The original price for a single set of the Tianlei Type VII Anti-Aircraft Missile is $55 million, and $40 million per individual missile; for purchases over 10 sets, the price per set drops to $50 million, and $35 million per individual missile; for purchases over 30 sets, the price per set drops to $45 million, and $30 million per individual missile; for purchases over 50 sets, the price per set drops to $40 million, and $25 million per individual missile; for purchases over 100 sets, the price per set drops to $35 million, and $20 million per individual missile; for purchases over 300 sets, the price per set drops to $25 million, and $14 million per individual missile.

The original price for a single set of the Tianlei Type VIII Anti-Aircraft Missile is $65 million, and $50 million per individual missile; for purchases over 10 sets, the price per set drops to $60 million, and $45 million per individual missile; for purchases over 30 sets, the price per set drops to $55 million, and $40 million per individual missile; for purchases over 50 sets, the price per set drops to $50 million, and $35 million per individual missile; for purchases over 100 sets, the price per set drops to $40 million, and $25 million per individual missile; for purchases over 300 sets, the price per set drops to $30 million, and $18 million per individual missile."

Upon hearing such high quotes, Major General Zaha suddenly felt that his $9 billion plus budget didn't seem like much money anymore. He wouldn't be able to buy many Tianlei Type VII Anti-Aircraft Missile and Tianlei Type VIII Anti-Aircraft Missile at all.

He felt it was better not to be overly ambitious. Given the land area of Syria, they wouldn't need many of these two models of anti-aircraft missiles, and only a small quantity was needed.