Holy Roman Empire

Franz was naturally unclear about what happened in Egypt. It was such a trivial matter that the emperor did not need to intervene in person.

In recent times, apart from the bleak outlook for agriculture, the overall Austrian economy is still very good.

If nothing unexpected happens, it will be able to return to the peak level before the economic crisis broke out by the end of the year.

Looking at the latest economic report, Franz breathed a sigh of relief.The Near East development plan was essentially smashed with money, and in the short term there was no return at all.

In order to raise funds, the Vienna government has successively issued 500 million Aegis construction bonds, and the monthly interest expense of the capital is as high as 1.86 million.

This is just the beginning. As the development plan for the Near East continues to advance, the government's debt will continue to increase in the coming days.

Coupled with the old debt, Franz was surprised to find that the total government debt exceeded the Russians, which is just around the corner.

"How far has oilfield development in Iraq progressed?"

There is no way. In the short term, the projects in the Near East that will pay off are the oil fields discovered in Iraq.

There are so many oil fields in the Middle East, and it is not clear which of them will be the future oil field.

These are all minor problems. Anyway, discovering first and then mining first, then discovering later, and the oil ca n’t be buried underground.

Prime Minister Carl replied: "The mining equipment has been installed and the pipeline is currently being erected. It is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

It is expected that the oil in Iraq will be sufficient to meet domestic demand within one year after it is put into production.

In order to reduce expenses, the Austrian oil company has been considering shutting down some small oil fields in the country to reduce the cost of crude oil extraction."

Undoubtedly, looking at the construction cycle, we know that the oil pipeline is not directly laid in Austria, but in the two river basins, and then transported back into the Persian Gulf by boat, and then replaced the oil tanker and shipped back to Austria.

Although the Vienna government allows individuals to extract oil, the extra-large oil fields discovered by the government like Iraq are still the food of state-owned enterprises.

Since the second industrial revolution, Austria ’s demand for oil has increased day by day.Even during the economic crisis, it maintained a double-digit growth rate.

As of 1884, Austria ’s oil consumption has reached a skyrocketing 15.8565 million barrels per year.

This number is not worth mentioning in later generations.It is almost the daily consumption of some big countries, but in this era, it is completely a record.

Affected by the surge in oil demand in Austria, international oil prices have climbed to historical peaks, at 5.6 Aegis per barrel.

The price of crude oil of equal weight actually exceeds the price of grain.The high value makes the crude oil, which was inconspicuous, suddenly become "black gold".

If this is the case, then oil is still just a niche commodity.After all, Austria's oil consumption exceeds the sum of other countries.

The entire crude oil market is more than 100 million Aegis, and the total international crude oil trade is only a pitiful 20-30 million Aegis, of which the Russians account for half.

The really optimistic reason is the growth rate of oil demand.

From 1884 to 1885, Austria ’s oil demand increased by 23.3%, and even the global oil demand increased by 15.4%. Such a terrifying speed is naturally self-evident.

The market growth is caused by many reasons. The first to bear the brunt is the advent of diesel generators. Although the cost of generating electricity is higher than that of coal, it is small, portable, and easy to operate.

Soon after mankind entered the power age, even the most developed power industry in Austria will inevitably suffer a power outage.

Ordinary people are tolerant, and the gas lamps that have just been eliminated are not useless anyway.Even if you have lost it, you can still light a candle.

But the factory won't work anymore, can't you stop work if there is no power outage?

In this context, diesel generators with independent power generation capabilities have become a necessity for many factories.

Not only factories, nobles and capitalists are also at home.Including Franz is no exception, and the Vienna Palace cannot guarantee that there will be no power outages.

The seemingly insignificant small machine has actually become a big fuel consuming household, and its growth rate is still very rapid.

It was followed by a tractor. Since 1880, the world ’s first internal-combustion engine-powered tractor came out in Vienna, and it has been out of control.

In just five years, this new tractor has been updated twice, and its performance has been greatly improved.

With the advantages of light weight and easy operation, it quickly defeated competitor steam tractors and began to popularize in industrial and agricultural production.

As of now, there are more than 150,000 tractors in Austria, of which 67% are powered by internal combustion engines.

This is just the beginning. With the development of the Near East, the demand for tractors is increasing.

If not limited by production capacity, it is estimated that the number of tractors in Austria has already exceeded the 200,000 mark.

Manufacturers are expanding their production capacity, and after a maximum of one or two years, the number in Austria will exceed this number.

Not to mention all kinds of engineering equipment, anyway, it is oil tiger.

In contrast, family cars are only considered pediatrics.After all, this is only the patent of a few rich people, and it has not been popularized nationwide.

Judging from the current situation, the original five-year doubling of fuel consumption predicted by Franz is actually too conservative.

After all, the petroleum industry has just started. Before the second industrial revolution, the main role of petroleum was mainly oil lamp lighting.

Originally the market was limited, and gas lamps and candles were also needed to grab the market. Naturally, demand did not go up.If the base is small, the growth rate will naturally be fast.

Affected by this, a small climax of oil search broke out all over the world.

But all this will end soon.As long as Iraq ’s oil is developed, the situation of shortage of international crude oil will be fundamentally improved.

As for other regions, Franz is not ready to start.Once the outside world finds that the Middle East is full of oil, pulling the hatred will not only lead to a decline in oil prices.

From the beginning of the Near East development plan, Franz made up his mind to use the oil mining dividend to make up for the government's financial investment.

"The government must pay close attention to this work. Judging from the current situation, domestic crude oil consumption will double in the next four years.

The oil fields in the Iraqi region will soon become an important income for the government.Relying on this field, supporting interest in the Near East development plan is not a problem."

There is nothing wrong with the interest on funds.If you want to support the principal investment, this is not a short time.

No matter how high the profit of oil extraction is, the market size is there, directly locking the profit ceiling.

The growth rate looks fast, but this growth rate cannot be sustained. As the total base increases, the growth rate will gradually decrease.

Austria ’s oil demand can double within four years, but within eight years it is difficult to double it on the basis of four years later.

Moreover, this kind of finance that relies heavily on resources is not what Franz wants.

From the beginning, he made up his mind to limit oil production capacity. In the case of meeting domestic demand, a small amount of export is enough.

Well, this is also a means to combat competitors.Raising international oil prices and relying on high costs to delay the development of the British and French oil industries.