#228 - Chapter 228 Oil Base
“Is it an efficiency problem again?”
Hearing Wang Bin's words, Qin Jin frowned.
“Can you calculate the daily output now?”
Wang Bin was prepared for this and answered the leader's question.
“Yesterday, we just started to understand and start up those devices. We only extracted a little of the fuel we needed in the afternoon. I estimate that if the process goes smoothly every day in the future, we can only produce about 10 tons of fuel a day!”
Only 10 tons?
That's too low!
Even though Qin Jin was mentally prepared, he was still filled with disappointment when he heard this number.
“This is still a relatively optimistic estimate. The actual operation may be even less...”
Wang Bin carefully glanced at his boss. Seeing his ugly face, his voice became smaller and smaller.
Qin Jin was silent for a while, and finally did not blame Wang Bin.
He had expected that the process of obtaining fuel would not be too smooth. Now that it can be extracted, it is already considered another good result.
It's just that the efficiency is a bit low. There may be opportunities to increase the output in the future, just like producing bullets at the beginning.
“Is there any reason? You can tell me, and I'll help you find a solution.”
He adjusted his mood slightly, and continued to chat with Wang Bin and the others as he walked, his tone softening.
At the same time, he was also looking at the oil refining base in front of him.
In less than half a year since the end of the world, it already looked a bit dilapidated from the outside. Many open-air mechanical and steel equipment were rusty and corroded, and the ground and some walls were covered with weeds.
A desolate scene.
If it weren't said that this was once a working refinery, others would definitely think it had been abandoned for several years.
It should be the plants that were corroded by acid rain and started to re-emerge after the spring snow melted.
“There are many reasons that limit us from increasing fuel production. One of them is the manpower. Many of the devices here were originally in the stage of automatic control, but now many of the open-air ones are damaged! We can only send more people to operate and control them manually.”
“Equipment damage is also a factor. We found that several refining machines here cannot be started. After I checked, it is unlikely that we can repair them in a short time with just our manpower... We may need professionals to repair them... Now only one or two can be manually operated by us.”
“Then there are some other minor reasons, our personnel are not yet proficient, the electricity is not sufficient, there are too many products separated from the oil that need to be processed, etc. For the time being, these are the reasons. We are still thinking of ways ourselves. It would be even better if President Qin could give some suggestions.”
Wang Bin said a lot of reasons at once, all of which are the difficulties they are currently encountering.
Qin Jin kept walking, and was also thinking about what Wang Bin said in his heart.
As an indispensable part of his development plan, fuel is naturally the most important thing. He has also personally read and studied many oil refining processes and technical points.
For example, crude oil that has just been extracted cannot be used at all. It needs to be refined and purified through various processes to obtain the gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas, etc. that are usually needed.
At the same time, it will also generate other lubricating oils, paraffin wax, asphalt, plastic raw materials, etc.
Each product has various different uses, but Qin Jin naturally mainly values the fuel in it.
The base still has a lot of other temporary things in stock, and the demand is not as high as fuel.
So it is actually not easy for Wang Bin and the others to come over for just a day or two and be able to come up with the finished product they need.
But this is not something to be proud of.
Because the previous annual output of this Zhushi Oilfield was close to 10 million tons!
That is, the daily output is also tens of thousands of tons!
Now the daily output they have produced is only one-thousandth of what it used to be during peacetime!
So this is the reason for his disappointment.
“Keep up the good work, we will find ways to gradually increase production together!”
“You continue to familiarize yourself with this place. If you need any people or supplies, just tell me, and I will find a way!”
Qin Jin firmly supports this matter. He is already preparing to go back to the base and hold a meeting with the cadres to see if there are any talents in this area among the survivors outside that can be absorbed.
But he doesn't dare to arrange too many people to come to this oilfield mining and refining plant for the time being.
Because the walls here are too low and the area it occupies is too large.
With more people, coupled with the wide range of defense, not to mention the corpse fog days, the pressure from zombies in normal times will inevitably be great.
Their Green Origin Base has just experienced a zombie siege brought about by a personnel change.
Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the number of people here within a limit that can safely defend against the impact of zombies in normal times, and also have the production capacity to meet the fuel required for the base's development.
They need to carefully control this limit.
Soon, they walked to one of the cleaned-up office buildings while chatting.
The team members had already arranged for electricity to be connected here. At some point, some sofas, chairs, and desks had been placed in the lobby on the first floor as temporary office locations.
Except for some personnel who still needed to go out to work, Qin Jin, Wang Bin, Li Bowen, and Chen Junchi sat down to continue discussing and chatting.
“Team Leader Li, how is the defense situation here? Can we build the kind of defense zone we need?”
Faced with the leader's inquiry, Li Bowen straightened his body and said neither humble nor arrogant:
“We already have some ideas.”
“The area here is too large, and it is not realistic to build the kind of super-high walls like the base. And if we don't increase the height much, the effect will be useless. It is still easy to be broken through if there are too many zombies.”
“So we plan to abandon some areas of this refining area and focus on building a core area, only needing to surround the personnel accommodation and the key locations here to defend against the impact of zombies!”
After speaking, he took out a notebook, opened it, and showed it to everyone.
On it was a rough map of the oilfield mining and refining area. Li Bowen pointed to a location circled in red pen in the middle of the map and said:
“We plan to only build walls and reinforce the defense of buildings in this location. When there is corpse fog or too many zombies, we will directly abandon those areas outside that are not of much value and concentrate our strength to resist.”
“When the corpse fog or zombie tide ends, many zombies outside will leave, and we will slowly clean them up, or the main base can send helicopters to assist in the cleanup. In this way, we have the confidence to build this place into a branch base of Green Origin!”
Qin Jin thought about the scene depicted by Team Leader Li in his mind.
Yes.
It seems like a good idea.
Most of the outside areas are storage and equipment placement areas. Even if zombies enter, there will be no damage or loss. It is indeed better to just keep a core area as Team Leader Li said.
“Good! Let’s do it as you said!”
Qin Jin made a decision on the spot, which was regarded as agreeing to the construction plan of the oil branch base.
(End of this chapter)
