Chapter 7 CHAPTER VI Urgent Telegram to Washington

Allowing foreigners to conduct exploration and construction in China's territory and territorial waters involves many sensitive matters among countries. Therefore, the Ministry of Petroleum must report to the State Council for instructions on every step it takes in the process of cooperating with foreign companies.This process is complex and complicated, and simple and simple, it depends on who does it and what it does. The foreign cooperation done by the Ministry of Petroleum is an important step in China's opening up to the outside world. The central government has always attached great importance to it, and has given the green light all the way, taking special care.In addition, the two vice premiers in charge of the work of the Ministry of Petroleum of the State Council are both veteran ministers of the Ministry of Petroleum. Obviously, the Ministry of Petroleum will get more "green channels" from the State Council for whatever it does.

After returning from their trip to the United States, Zhang Wenbin immediately submitted a special report to the State Council in the name of the Ministry of Petroleum: …In accordance with the spirit of the State Council’s approval of the Ministry’s “Report on Offshore Oil Cooperation Issues During Visits to Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States,” in the name of China Petroleum Corporation, it signed a geophysical survey agreement with Arco Corporation of the United States in a specific area of ​​the South my country Sea. The letter of intent for exploration has signed a letter of intent for geophysical exploration in 170,000 square kilometers of sea area from the continental shelf outside the Pearl River Estuary to a depth of 600 meters with three oil companies from the United States, Exxon, Mobile, and Texaco. Five oil companies, Amoco, City Services, Binns, and Phillips, have generally concluded an oral agreement on geophysical exploration in my country's Beibu Gulf and the South China Sea.We are going to start further negotiations in Beijing with Exxon and other eight oil companies starting from mid-April, with a view to finalizing specific cooperation agreements.

The geophysical exploration work in my country's sea areas is based on the nature of the risk contract. As the content of the first-stage contract, it has been negotiated with foreign companies. From the date of signing the contract, all seismic and data processing and interpretation will be done within one year. It will be handed over to my country to prepare for bidding for the next stage of detailed exploration and development.As long as my country does not change its bidding intention, the first stage of exploration costs will be repaid by the winning bidder, and my country has no obligation to repay this cost.This is the current common practice in international oil exploration risk contracts.In this way, in a year's time, the structural features of the more than 200,000 square kilometers of the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the Beibu Gulf can be basically clarified, which will accelerate my country's offshore oil exploration and development.If the State Council agrees, we will go to the United States in May to sign the first phase of the contract.

... Before the request report was issued, the Ministry of Petroleum reported to Vice Premier Kang Shien. There is no doubt that Kang Shien was very clear about the contents of the report. At the same time, he also told the comrades in the Ministry of Petroleum that he would visit the United States in May.The people from the Ministry of Petroleum heard that the opportunity was great. Vice Premier Kang went to the United States. Wouldn't this be a good time to formally sign the geophysical prospecting agreements between us and several American oil companies!After an urgent request for instructions, the Ministry of Petroleum planned to send Minister Song Zhenming to visit the United States with a delegation led by Vice Premier Kang Shien.

All this, in the eyes of Zhang Wenbin and Qin Wencai from the Ministry of Petroleum, can be described as a "bestowed opportunity" and a matter of course.At this moment, they are thinking about the prelude to the oil war that is about to kick off in the three major sea areas in the east and south of our country... Oh, it must be vigorous and magnificent! I have been working in oil for most of my life, and almost all of them are "landlubbers" - working on land, this time the offshore oil exploration battle has begun, and fighting on the endless, choppy sea, how poetic and challenging it is!And there is another point that the comrades in the Ministry of Petroleum feel that they have a lot of face in front of the central government: because in the contracts they negotiated with the United States, they asked others to work for us, and we did not pay!Sometimes a country is very similar to a family or a unit, especially when our country was still very poor. If someone could make the Premier of the State Council get things done without digging out his pockets, the Premier of the State Council would be very happy.So at this time, the people in the Ministry of Petroleum thought they had enough confidence to enable the State Council to approve all foreign cooperation action plans according to their ideas.

The Ministry of Petroleum's "Report on Geophysical Exploration Cooperation with Nine U.S. Oil Companies in the South my country Sea" was submitted on April 14, and the report that Minister Song Zhenming wanted to visit the United States with Kang Shien was made up on April 26. .Unexpectedly, on the second day, Yu Qiuli, the "old minister" of the old Minister of Petroleum (Kang Shien), gave an order that was unexpected by the Ministry of Petroleum. This order caught the Minister Song Zhenming and others who were preparing to visit the United States with Kang Shien by surprise. , was taken aback.

Yu Qiuli, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Secretary of the Secretariat, and Vice Premier of the State Council commented: "This is a big project, and the risk contract is a new method that involves issues such as law, economic rights, and resource protection. Before Comrade En goes abroad, please invite the leaders of the State Council and the Finance and Economics Committee to listen to a report.” Yu Qiuli also added a sentence after the instructions, “Please Vice Chairman Li and Comrade Ren Zhong give instructions.”Li is Li Xiannian, and Ren Zhong is Comrade Wang Renzhong who presides over the daily work of the Central Secretariat.

"This guy is complicated!" On the same day, after the Ministry of Petroleum received Yu Qiuli's instructions, several major leaders complained for a while: Vice Premier Kang will go abroad in a few days, and this matter cannot be settled. The contract means that it cannot be signed! "Hurry up and contact Vice Premier Kang, and ask him to try to communicate with Comrade Qiuli in person!" "That's right, we can only find Comrade Kang Shien!" The Ministry of Petroleum is in a hurry.As soon as they were in a hurry, they went to the "old minister".

Veteran minister Kang Shi'en was a little anxious when he saw Yu Qiuli's instructions. On the one hand, he felt that Comrade Yu Qiuli's opinion was very important; , can't procrastinate, procrastination may affect more things later.what to do?Kang Shien frowned, immediately picked up a pen, and wrote an urgent letter to Comrade Yu Qiuli: Kang Shien's letter received Yu Qiuli's instructions the next day: the Ministry of Petroleum should report to the leaders of the State Council and Finance and Economics Committee once. The tone of the "old minister" is unusual, and it is estimated that the "above" has some "inside information" that the oil people including Kang Shi'en are not very familiar with.Neither Kang Shien nor the Ministry of Petroleum dared to neglect, so on May 7 before his visit to the United States, Kang Shien personally presented a special report to the meeting of the Central Finance and Economics Committee chaired by Li Xiannian.

After the report meeting, the leading group of the Central Financial and Economic Commission reported to Deng Xiaoping the three opinions formed after listening to Kang Shien's report: First, in view of the smooth progress of the normalization of Sino-US relations, they agreed with Comrade Kang Shien's report.It is recommended that the Central Committee and the State Council approve in principle the Ministry of Petroleum's "Report on Geophysical Exploration Cooperation with Nine U.S. Oil Companies in the South my country Sea" and "Request for Instructions on Oil Work Plans in the United States". Talk about it.Second, the Ministry of Petroleum proposed to retain part of the crude oil for compensation trade every year, which should be carefully considered.The third is how to cooperate with relevant departments after signing an agreement with foreign oil companies, which involves corresponding changes in the system. The Ministry of Petroleum is requested to discuss with relevant departments and propose specific plans, which will be submitted to the State Council for approval.

There is no small matter in the country.The "three opinions" of the leading group of the Central Financial and Economic Commission were reported to Deng Xiaoping. Xiaoping did not have any comments, but only circled them.This is a habitual way of decision-making by the leaders of the Communist Party of China, circled or said "already aware of this matter", or nodded in agreement.Deng Xiaoping made the final decision on the matter of the Ministry of Petroleum, so his circle reading means that he agrees or has no objection to the opinions of the Central Financial and Economic Commission. The Ministry of Petroleum and Kang Shien breathed a sigh of relief after receiving Deng Xiaoping's "reviewed" news. "It's finally time to go!" Song Zhenming waved to his subordinates who were going to visit the United States, asking them to make full preparations in terms of energy and physical strength. "When the oil workers roar, the earth will tremble three times. This time we follow Vice Premier Kang to the United States to deal with so many world oil companies, so we have to show more or less the same vigor as we did in the battle in Songliao!" Song Zhenming is a A well-known political agitator, the phrase "the oil workers roar and the earth shakes three times" was what he shouted back then. Now he uses the "iron man spirit" in China's oil industry that is opening up to the outside world, which is also very inspiring. . "Haha, Minister Song, we have to sign so many contracts when we come to the United States this time, maybe it will really make the world tremble!" The colleagues before the visit were full of ambitions. Kang Shien, who is in charge of formally signing contracts with nine major oil companies in the United States, led a delegation of Chinese oil companies to board the international flight at Beijing Airport and slowly flew to the other side of the Pacific Ocean... At this moment, the giants in the American oil industry are waiting eagerly. "It's a bad thing!" Kang Shien, Song Zhenming and others stepped forward, and the Ministry of Petroleum received a notice from the Central Committee: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised objections to the Central Committee on the exploration operations between the Ministry of Petroleum and foreign companies in the Beibu Gulf, and demanded that the Ministry of Petroleum The Ministry notified Minister Song Zhenming in the United States that they immediately and temporarily suspended all matters of signing contracts with American companies. Isn't this "bad big thing" what is it?The party group of the Ministry of Petroleum immediately held an emergency meeting. On the one hand, they quickly notified Kang Shien and Song Zhenming on the other side of the ocean to "delay the signing time" as much as possible, and on the other hand, assigned Qin Wencai to deal with the matter in the fastest way. "It's terrible! It's really terrible!" Qin Wencai took this difficult matter, worrying in his heart: diplomatic matters are too complicated, and they can't be resolved in dozens of days or years, but Vice Premier Kang and the others are now in the United States, so they just wait Then formally sign a contract with others. "How can we go on like this? We can't make up a reason to coax people every day, can we? You have to take some special measures!" Minister Song Zhenming made a long-distance call every day from the other side of the ocean to urge.No wonder, Vice Premier Kang Shi'en went there on behalf of the Chinese government, and it's reasonable to delay it for a day or two. If it takes longer, "foreigners" will definitely have doubts, and the impact will be great! Can Qin Wencai not know the stakes? However, diplomatic matters are not something that Zhang San and Li Si can decide casually.The questions raised by the Ministry of Petroleum on the cooperation between the Ministry of Petroleum and American companies in the exploration work in the South China Sea are also very important. The main contents of the opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are as follows: One is the demarcation issue between China and a neighboring country in the Beibu Gulf. At the end of 1973, a neighboring country of ours planned to cooperate with foreign capital to carry out exploration in the Beibu Gulf. I once proposed to the neighboring country: Before the two countries delineate the sea area boundary of the Beibu Gulf, neither side will enter the 107-108 degrees east longitude and 18-20 north latitude. degrees in between. In 1974, the two countries held negotiations in the Beibu Gulf.A neighboring country insists that the Beibu Gulf has already been demarcated (referring to a small section of red line that divides the ownership of the islands as stated in the 1887 Sino-French Demarcation Treaty, located at 108.3 degrees east longitude), and claims to demarcate the entire Beibu Gulf sea area with me according to this line. I reject it. .In view of the sharp and complicated struggle on the demarcation of the Beibu Gulf, it is obviously inappropriate to propose the above-mentioned exploration scope to the US without the approval of the central government, and it involves our plan for the demarcation of the Beibu Gulf. Second, once the oil structure is discovered in offshore oil exploration, it is fine if the oil field is heading towards the continental shelf of my country's sea area, but it will be a big trouble if the oil field is heading towards the other country. Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that joint development with foreign countries in such sensitive sea areas, especially cooperation with American companies, requires special approval from the central government.At the same time, the opinions of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army must be sought. complex!It's more complicated than imagined! This opinion from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was sent directly to Deng Xiaoping.Deng Xiaoping immediately gave instructions to Yu Qiuli, Gu Mu, and Kang Shien, saying that "the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is important." Yu Qiuli quickly forwarded the comment: I hope the Ministry of Petroleum "follows the instructions of Vice Chairman Deng" and "study and report quickly". Qin Wencai had no time and did not dare to be negligent. He urgently called You Dehua, Tang Changxu and other experts with knowledge and experience in foreign affairs to discuss and discuss, and wrote a special report overnight. The report gave corresponding answers to the questions raised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. and instructions.Here I just use one sentence to summarize Qin Wencai's report. In fact, this report is quite long, and the issues explained are relatively complicated. The Ministry of Petroleum first submitted the report to the old minister Yu Qiuli.Yu Qiuli quickly forwarded it to Deng Xiaoping, and attached a letter of his own.This letter played a key role in a sense.The full text of Yu Qiuli's letter is as follows: Deng Xiaoping commented on the next day: agree. Youdao is worth a thousand gold.Deng Xiaoping's words are heavier than Mount Tai. "Wen Cai, you have done a great job! We followed Vice Premier Kang to sign contracts with foreigners every day, and it went very smoothly, and you're done!" A few days after receiving an urgent call from my embassy in the United States, Song Zhenming sent Qin Wencai another When making long-distance calls, the excitement is a bit childlike. Tired Qin Wencai sat on a chair in the office and finally smiled.He felt very happy, and he was also imagining the lively scenes of Kang Shien and Song Zhenming frequently signing contracts with many American oil giants on the other side of the ocean... In just five days from June 5th to June 9th, Kang Shien took Song Zhenming and the others back and forth between Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco in the United States, setting off a strong "Chinese whirlwind" , It really made Americans feel the Chinese style after opening up. At the same time, Qin Wencai presided over and completed the signing of geophysical prospecting agreements between the Ministry of Petroleum and companies such as Britain and Italy in Beijing.During this process, Japan, as China's close neighbor and energy-short economic powerhouse, sees that European and American countries and China's offshore oil development are in full swing, how can they be at ease? "We must go ahead of Europe and the United States, and even use the power of the government!" The prime minister at the time, Masahiro Ohira, was an active promoter of the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations. His attitude was firm and friendly, so the maritime cooperation between China and Japan was quickly put on the agenda.However, due to the long-standing differences between China and Japan on the borders of sea areas, such as the long-standing dispute over the Diaoyu Islands, cooperation in offshore oil development has created more complicated political factors than cooperation with Europe and the United States. For a while, Prime Minister Masahiro Ohira convened a meeting of cabinet ministers to unify their opinions on this matter, and personally negotiated with Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping who was visiting Japan. Finally, the two leaders reached a consensus: put aside the differences (the Diaoyu Islands issue) and Collaborate in areas where cooperation is possible. However, the Ministry of Petroleum, which operates the Sino-Japanese offshore oil exploration and development work, found that the affairs between China and Japan are far more complicated than imagined.Although the top leaders of the two countries have agreed on something, when it comes to the specific implementation departments and subordinates, there is still huge resistance. This resistance includes both powerful intergovernmental departments and those from the private sector.There are more critical departments than these two, such as the military.When the military heard that the Ministry of Petroleum was going to cooperate with Japan in the development of Bohai Bay, the General Staff immediately reported to the Military Commission, pointing out: Bohai Sea is our gateway to Beijing and Tianjin. In the future anti-aggression war, it will be one of the important directions for the enemy to come from the sea. Strategic position is very important.At the same time, because the Bohai Sea is the only inland sea in China, with good security and confidentiality conditions, since the founding of the People's Republic of China, in addition to the country's strengthening of coastal defense measures, the military department and guard forces have successively established many military bases in this area.The military's attitude is very clear: In view of this situation, it is "best not to cooperate with foreigners" in oil exploration and development in Bohai Bay. Perhaps it is predictable, and the Japanese side has firmly grasped the need to cooperate with China.Masahiro Ohira even said: The normalization of relations between China and Japan means that we are ahead of the Americans. China should abandon the prejudices left behind in history and traditional concepts. We are close neighbors. Incomplete and imperfect. And at this time, relevant people from relevant departments—these departments and these people are not ordinary people, they frequently reported to the central government through special channels: "We also have geophysical prospecting personnel in China. When we can find a world-class oil field like Daqing, but can’t find oil in the ocean?” In a word, the Ministry of Petroleum “abandoning the near and seeking far” and “worshiping foreign countries”! With such a big "hat", in the era when the reform and opening up had just started, if anyone was put on it, they might not be able to do anything!At that time, although the "Cultural Revolution" was announced to be over, the things and some consciousnesses left in people's minds were still quite serious. The Ministry of Petroleum was so vigorous in introducing foreign capital, and it was so hot with the "capitalists" in "capitalist countries" , in the eyes of some departments and some people, the behavior of the Ministry of Petroleum is almost the same as "treason" and "traitor"! Qin Wencai from the Ministry of Petroleum, how can they bear this?But they couldn't argue with each other.Besides, the people who put forward such views on the Ministry of Petroleum are no longer just a matter of individual departments. Some old leaders who have held important positions are also making irresponsible remarks.Kang Shien felt the seriousness of the problem, so in July and August 1979, he wrote letters to Deng Xiaoping and other major central leaders twice in a row in his own name, stating the importance of Sino-Japanese cooperation in oil exploration and development in the Bohai Sea. Related issues and why it is necessary to allow foreign companies to conduct offshore oil geophysical exploration in our waters. As the main organizer and leader of the new China's petroleum industry, Kang Shien's authority and insights have always influenced and determined the development direction of China's petroleum industry.This time is no exception.In particular, he has an incisive understanding of technologies such as offshore oil exploration and development, and the spirit of "settling accounts" for the country with all his heart.Today we read Kang Shien’s letter to Deng Xiaoping’s leader again, and we will still be very moved: …At present, there is indeed a big gap between my country's petroleum geophysical exploration technology and foreign advanced technology, mainly: Field Seismic Instruments.The United States adopts multi-channel recording and high-level coverage technology (more than 90 channels and 48 times of coverage). The original data obtained are of good quality and high accuracy, and can clearly reflect complex and deep oil storage structures.In the past, we used analog tape recording, and the quality of the data obtained was relatively poor.In recent years, we have assembled and imported seven digital seismic ships, but we can only cover 24 times, and we are still inaccurate for some deep and complex structures.It is also impossible to buy high-tech instruments for a while. The gap between seismic data processing and research is even greater.This time I visited three seismic data processing centers in the United States.They use 10 million or more large-scale electronic computers to distinguish the waveform of seismic waves, the speed of frequency, the strength of reflected energy, etc., and have dozens of calculation programs and formulas. They are called technical know-how, and they are kept secret. Can't buy it.Therefore, they can distinguish the complex situation underground and draw it on the map.They have also developed a new set of disciplines—seismic stratigraphy, and hydrocarbon sign interpretation (that is, the direct oil and gas search method, some successful, some unsuccessful, and are being explored), which greatly improves the ability to perform under complex geological conditions. Find the effect of oil.We only have a small electronic computer with less than one million operations, and cannot process a large amount of data. We can only roughly divide the strata and find simple and obvious structures and faults.The complex underground situation requires drilling to solve, so the investment is large, the efficiency is low, and the time is long, and it is difficult to find hidden oil and gas reservoirs under special geological conditions.For example, stratigraphic trap oil reservoirs and coral reef massive oil reservoirs have been discovered in the world, but we have not found them yet. In short, we are not good at anything, and some of our characteristics, such as the oil production geology of the Daqing Oilfield, and a set of production techniques, are also appreciated by American experts.The difference in the speed of drilling wells is not very big.But in terms of geophysics, the gap is indeed large, affecting the discovery of new oil fields. Therefore, for offshore oil exploration, it is necessary and beneficial for me to sign risk contracts with foreign oil companies with advanced technology through compensation trade.In the exploration stage, he invests and uses his advanced technology and technical know-how to find oil fields, which will be repaid later with the crude oil produced.If he can't find the oil field, he will pay for it, and I will not be responsible.It doesn't do me any harm.Of course, after finding an oil field, how to develop and construct, how to repay their exploration expenses and all investment, interest and risk rewards of oil field development and construction, etc., there is a set of complicated business contracts, we still need to study in depth to avoid losses... A few days later, Deng Xiaoping commented on Kang Shien's letter: "I agree and advocate speeding up." So far, Kang Shien, with his indisputable authority and loyalty to the motherland, has silenced some people who had made irresponsible remarks about the cooperation between the Ministry of Petroleum and foreign companies in offshore oil geophysical exploration.However, Deng Xiaoping's opinions gave the party a more unified understanding and confidence on the issue of opening up to the outside world.Of all these, the happiest ones are of course oilmen Qin Wencai and Zhang Wenbin.After twists and turns, the Ministry of Petroleum of China has signed cooperative development projects with more than 40 foreign oil companies. This is the most important strategic move in the early stage of China's opening up to the outside world. It has made an indelible history for the comprehensive start of China's four modernizations. Its contribution has been recorded in history as an important event of China's reform and opening up. In the meantime, the prelude to a massive and unprecedented war of geophysical exploration in China's seas was completely kicked off in China's seas... At the same time, the people of PetroChina ushered in a broader and more profound foreign policy. Open stormy seas...