74: Chapter 74 Proposed Oil Lease Agreement

"The current international oil price is $74.5 per barrel. Based on a 35% discount on the international oil price, the calculated price is $48.425 per barrel. The value of 500,000 barrels of oil is $24.2125 million.

The international natural gas price is $664 per thousand cubic meters. Based on a 35% discount on the international natural gas price, the calculated price is $431.5 per thousand cubic meters. The value of 180 million cubic meters of natural gas is $77.67 million.

The international phosphate price is $320 per ton. Based on a 25% discount on the international phosphate price, the calculated price is $240 per ton. The value of 300,000 tons of phosphate is $72 million.

The total value of this oil, natural gas, and phosphate is $173.8825 million. We can round this up to $174 million for calculation purposes. Is that acceptable?"

Li Yi had calculated the prices of each energy mineral and the funds available to Syria, and he asked Major General Zaha for confirmation.

Major General Zaha was naturally very pleased to hear that they could increase their procurement funds by $150 million. He didn't care about the international price fluctuations of each resource; the differences were negligible anyway.

"No problem. We accept the quote for each resource."

"Then how many Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile does your side intend to purchase?"

Based on the quotes for each type of Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile and his available procurement funds, Major General Zaha quickly provided a procurement plan.

"We plan to purchase 100 sets of Tianlei Type I Anti-Aircraft Missile, along with 200 supporting missiles; 30 sets of Tianlei Type II Anti-Aircraft Missile, along with 60 supporting missiles; 10 sets of Tianlei Type III Anti-Aircraft Missile, along with 20 supporting missiles; and 2 sets of Tianlei Type IV Anti-Aircraft Missile, along with 6 supporting missiles."

Li Yi quickly calculated the total procurement cost based on the plan and said, "That comes to $190 million in total. After deducting the value of the energy minerals, you still need to pay an additional $16 million. Is that correct?"

Only needing to add $16 million, and with over $20 million on hand, there was no funding gap.

Major General Zaha nodded and said, "That's correct. We will proceed with this procurement plan for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile."

Li Yi accelerated the pace of negotiations, stating, "We generally require a 20% deposit on the total payment, which is $38 million. As long as you pay the $16 million plus the 500,000 barrels of oil, we will deliver all of the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile. The remaining balance must be settled within five days after delivery is completed."

"How soon can you deliver the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile?" Major General Zaha was quite concerned about this.

"Within five days after the deposit is paid." Li Yi gave a five-day timeframe, which was two days longer than the delivery time for Lieutenant Colonel Haidari.

"Fine." Five days was five days; it wasn't a long time. Major General Zaha thought about it and agreed.

"Also, the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile we sell has designated usage areas. Considering that Syria and the USA are currently at war, the usage area includes the entire territories of Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Israel. Outside of these areas, this batch of purchased Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile cannot be used."

Li Yi had expanded the usage area for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile purchased by Syria to cover the two surrounding countries, mainly considering that the USA might launch fighter jets from these two countries to invade Syria.

Major General Zaha intended to use the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile to defend against the USA's invasion anyway, and he currently had no capacity to use them in other regions, so he said, "That's no problem. We have no objections."

"The terms of the arms deal contract are mostly settled. Shall we draft the contract and prepare to sign?" Li Yi proposed.

"Sure." Major General Zaha saw that there was nothing left to negotiate, so he decided to sign the contract immediately.

After an hour of busy work, Li Yi and Major General Zaha signed the arms deal contract, and this $190 million contract went into effect.

After signing the contract, Major General Zaha said with a look of regret, "We in Syria want to purchase more Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile. However, unfortunately, we have been in war for so many years, and many oil fields are controlled by the USA and the Opposition Armed Forces they support. We have no way to extract more oil to purchase weapons and equipment."

Li Yi was just listening and didn't want to get involved, but suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and he said, "Actually, Syria could sign oil leasing agreements with other countries, such as Iran or Russia. You could lease oil from these two countries now to purchase the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, and then, after the war ends, you can reclaim your oil fields for extraction and return the oil to these two countries."

Major General Zaha heard this and felt there was a lot of room for maneuver. Currently, due to sanctions from the USA, both Russia and Iran were unable to sell oil freely, and their oil extraction was not operating at full capacity.

They had already accumulated a significant backlog of oil inventory. If Syria were to lease oil, it could help digest the oil inventories of these two countries and reduce their storage costs, so it was possible to succeed.

Moreover, the quality of oil in Iran was better than that of Russia, and if they returned the oil using what Syria extracted in the future, Russia might agree.

Major General Zaha pondered for a moment and asked, "Chaos Company will always be able to accept oil for the purchase of Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, right?"

"Yes, we will launch more weapons and equipment in the future, and they can all be paid for with energy minerals like oil and natural gas." Li Yi did not deny it.

"That's good. After I return to Syria, I will communicate with the senior military leadership to see how to handle the oil leasing matter."

Lieutenant Colonel Haidari heard that Syria wanted to lease oil from Iran or Russia to purchase the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, and he encouraged them from the sidelines.

"I also support Major General Zaha in finding someone to discuss the oil leasing matter. If you want to go to Iran, I can introduce some officials from the Persian Lion State National Guard for a meeting. The National Guard controls many of Iran's oil fields and holds a relatively large amount of oil inventory."

After all, if Syria, under the coordination of Lieutenant Colonel Haidari, successfully negotiated the oil leasing matter and reached a procurement deal for the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile, he would be able to receive a substantial commission.

Just from this $190 million arms deal contract, Lieutenant Colonel Haidari could receive a $5.7 million commission. If a $10 billion arms deal contract were reached, he would make a fortune.

Iran had such abundant oil reserves, and its current daily oil production was not very high, mainly because of the USA's sanctions, which made it impossible to find a large number of buyers.

Now that there was a way to purchase the Tianlei Series Anti-Aircraft Missile with oil through Chaos Company, it was a good thing for both Iran and Syria.