Chapter 13 Digging an oil well is not a legend

In 2005, the news that people from Wenzhou organized people to go to Xinjiang to purchase a large number of oil wells to develop oil was once very popular.Reporters from all walks of life rushed to Xinjiang to dig exclusive reports. Some said that Wenzhou people controlled 120 oil wells in Xinjiang, another said that a certain investor had controlled 30 oil wells, and another said that Wenzhou people had invested more than one billion yuan in oil wells in Xinjiang. Some data even say several billion.Scholars of all kinds are also discussing the advantages and disadvantages of China's oil market in the future, and what kind of policy guidance the country should introduce, and so on.

In contrast to the hype from all parties, the Xinjiang government and local Wenzhou people reacted very coldly to this matter: the oilfield management departments in Xinjiang did not know where these oil wells were, nor did they know that Wenzhou people were already drilling oil wells. Legend has it that The exaggerated data in the report is even more unfounded.A few months later, a conclusion was reached on this matter: Wenzhou people's investment in oil wells was a non-existent thing, and Wenzhou people's investment in oil wells was simply a legend, a rumor. In fact, there is no need to spread rumors about this matter. After a little contact with the situation at the time, you will know that this matter is not feasible.

First of all, the country has not fully opened the policy of oil exploration to private enterprises. In 1998, although some Wenzhou people exploited oil in Shaanxi, by 2004, the small oil wells exploited by private individuals had been taken back by the Shaanxi local government.Although there are some individual bosses in Xinjiang who extract oil from abandoned oil wells, these are done quietly, and the oil produced must be sold to the lessee, so it is difficult to invest capital on a large scale like the real estate speculators. this industry. Second, and most importantly, extracting oil is not easy.In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, only 10% of the drilling success rate was obtained due to the reasonable guess of some geologists and the unremitting efforts of the oil workers.Developed countries even use four-dimensional sonar to detect new oil fields, coupled with supercomputer parallel processing and data analysis, a two-pronged approach has achieved a 40% to 50% success rate.

In other words, if you invest 70 to 80 million yuan to drill an oil well, the highest success rate is only 40% to 50%. If it is not successful, such a large investment will be in vain.No matter how rich Wenzhou people are, they dare not easily invest their hard-earned money into this bottomless pit.Moreover, even if a well is successfully excavated, professional workers must be employed in oil exploration, and it cannot be done by simply recruiting a few migrant workers. cause greater losses. It can be seen that whether it is the national policy or the current oil exploration technology, it is very difficult for private investment in oil wells to exploit oil at this stage.

But the fact that people in Wenzhou exploited oil was not completely groundless, and the rumors also had some basis. The protagonist in this basis made people see the feasibility of private investment in oil wells, and it was doomed to turn the rumor into reality. Wenzhou people organized people to go to Xinjiang to purchase a large number of oil wells to develop oil. The reason why the news spread for a period of time was related to a woman. This woman was called Wang Rongsen. According to various media reports, Wang Rongsen's story is as follows: Like many entrepreneurs in Wenzhou, Wang Rongsen initially engaged in the leather shoe business and accumulated some funds.Later, she came to Xi'an with her husband to engage in clothing wholesale, and the business was not bad.

One day, on his way home, Wang Rongsen met a teacher from Shaanxi Institute of Geology who had lost his wallet. Out of a sense of chivalry, he bought something for him.This moved the teacher greatly, and we gradually became friends.The teacher is engaged in the geological industry and has a good understanding of oil, so he suggested to her: "The competition in the clothing business is fierce, you might as well try to invest in oil." He also told her that there is underground oil in northern Shaanxi, and the Shaanxi government also Encourage foreign funds to invest in oil exploration, and whoever invests in this market first will get huge returns.

Wang Rongsen was tempted. Accompanied by her husband and the teacher, he came to northern Shaanxi to inquire about the situation. The government of northern Shaanxi does encourage private capital to invest in oil exploration, but there is no guarantee that oil will be produced, and the government has no information to provide. It is up to the contractor to decide where to extract oil. At that time, drilling a well required at least more than 1 million yuan.It can be seen that the risk of investing in this project is huge. The greater the risk, the greater the profit.After thinking about it, Wang Rongsen decided to face the risk and took out all the savings of 2.5 million accumulated over the years. Then he returned to his hometown in Wenzhou to mobilize relatives and friends to invest in shares, and raised another 2.3 million.With the 4.8 million yuan, she contracted three exploration wells in Yan'an.

Since then, Wang Rongsen's fate has been closely linked with these three wells.Exploiting an oil well is not an easy task. In addition to the pressure of risks, you have to endure the hard work on the construction site and deal with various accidents.Like a man, Wang Rongsen wore a helmet full of oil all day long and endured all the hard work on the construction site.Unfortunately, in 1997, Wang Rongsen's husband died of heatstroke while digging a well. This was a fatal blow to her, and she gritted her teeth and persisted.Fortunately, a year later, one of the wells produced oil. Wang Rongsen, who successfully extracted oil, was not dazzled by the victory. Instead, he returned to Wenzhou again, recruited some partners, obtained a capital of 36 million, bought the mining rights of 30 oil wells, and prepared to do a big job.

The following story is like a legend. We now know that private investment in oil will face great risks.In the face of huge risks, Wang Rongsen's little investment was nothing at all. Later, the oil wells she invested a huge amount of money to exploit had no oil, and the huge sums of money were filled into bottomless pits. To make money, but also lost several million. After that, no one could find the trace of Wang Rongsen.Some people said that she was looking for a new partner and would not stop until the oil was pumped out.Some people said that in order to pay off her debts, she went to work everywhere.Some people say that she has disappeared and no one can contact her.Some people even said that Wang Rongsen couldn't stand the blow and had already passed away.

At the time when the news about the Wenzhou Fried Oil Group was most intense, many Wenzhou businessmen expressed that they were willing to try to invest in oil if the policy allowed and had technical support. Very good investment.But not many really enter this industry, and Wang Rongsen is just a typical example.Although her investment failed, many people were moved by her efforts to extract oil. The three wells exploited for the first time performed well, and it was reported that the daily output was 7 tons.But the good times didn't last long. These three wells produced less and less oil, and after half a month, there was no oil.Wang Rongsen not only lost his money and owed a lot of debts, but also many business partners who invested with him also suffered miserably.At the worst time, Wang Rongsen didn't even have the money to buy a bus ticket to go home. He was so poor that he even borrowed money everywhere for food, and even worked as a nanny in other people's homes when he had to.Coupled with the death of her husband, the successive blows almost broke her spirits.

Even so, Wang Rongsen still did not give up the idea of ​​drilling oil wells. She still wanted to attract investment at all costs and try to make a comeback when she had no money to buy a train ticket to go home. It would be a devastating blow.But until the end, she did not give up the hope of continuing to drill the oil well until people completely lost her news. Although Wang Rongsen's investment ended in failure, we still gained a lot of useful information when looking back at her oil exploration experience.We admire her courage to take risks to start the oil industry; we are moved by the hardships she has paid for this cause; we are awed by her perseverance and perseverance in dealing with the severe challenges of fate. Respect.The persistent spirit embodied in her is a true portrayal of Wenzhou people's tenacious entrepreneurship and a source of strength for Wenzhou's capital to grow continuously. We have every reason to believe that when the oil extraction technology reaches a certain height, Wenzhou people who dare to be the first in the world will be the first to stand up and turn the legend of private investment in oil wells into reality.At that time, the country may open the oil industry to private enterprises like other industries that are gradually opening up.After all, this investment will help alleviate China's energy shortage, help improve China's oil companies, and break the monopoly of the two inefficient PetroChina and Sinopec on the Chinese oil market. In short, as long as the conditions for private enterprises to exploit oil are ripe, the dream of Wenzhou people to invest in oil will one day become a reality, and digging oil wells will no longer be a legend.