Chapter 967 Energy Lines

In fact, the relationship between Britain and Russia has always been very complicated. It is not an exaggeration to say that the two sides do not like each other.

After all, since the Crimean War between Britain and France, the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia in 1853, there have been countless conflicts and wars between the two sides in the past 100 years.

In Barron's previous life, in the subsequent Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Britain actively provided assistance to Ukraine, and could be called the "vanguard" of aiding Ukraine against Russia.

At present, the relationship between Russia and Britain has not recovered from the cold relationship caused by many previous events.

This starts with the murder of Litvinenko in 2006.

Litvinenko was a former Russian agent who fled to England and became a British citizen in 2000. He died of polonium poisoning in November 2006. At that time, the British side accused Lugovoi, a former Russian agent and current Duma member and businessman, of being the murderer and demanded his extradition to England for trial, but was rejected by the Russian side. The two sides started a "war of words", which brought the relationship to a freezing point.

After that, the conflict between Russia and Georgia in 2008, and the equity conflict between British Petroleum (BP) and Rosneft, also prevented the relationship between the two sides from being repaired.

Even when Cameron visited Russia in 2011, he and Russian President Medvedev only talked about economic and cultural cooperation, and rarely talked about politics.

This time, British Foreign Secretary William Hague's visit to Russia, in addition to exchanging views with the other side on the issue of the Syrian civil war, mainly carried out communication on economic cooperation.

Barron brought management from companies including United Energy Group, O2 Telecom, and British Automotive Group to Russia, preparing to invest and cooperate in the Russian market.

The focus this time is still energy cooperation with Russia.

In fact, the energy cooperation with Russia this time is not aimed at Britain, but at the market in continental Europe.

Before Barron came to Russia, Epely Singleton, CEO of United Energy Group, had already visited Romania and Azerbaijan and finalized a series of investment intentions.

You should know that United Energy Group has oil and gas blocks in Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea (from the acquired Unocal, see Chapter 403), but before, for the newly established United Energy Group, the exploitation of the Kolo offshore oil field alone had already occupied a lot of their energy, and they did not take into account the oil and gas resources in other regions, especially Azerbaijan, which relatively required additional manpower and resources for exploitation.

However, the current scale of the United Energy Group is sufficient to cope with the exploitation of more oil and gas blocks. In addition, after this, Barron will enhance his presence in various industries in the European continent, including the energy industry.

Therefore, they have formulated a new layout plan - in addition to cooperating with Russian local oil companies to purchase crude oil and natural gas, they will also start the exploitation of oil and gas blocks in the Azerbaijan region.

As we all know, Azerbaijan was once a Soviet republic. Its capital is Baku, which is located on the coast of the Caspian Sea. It is rich in oil resources and has a vast oil storage belt, known as the Baku Oil Field.

You should know that the Baku Oil Field had its first oil well drilled in 1873. In the early 20th century, the Baku Oil Field had the highest output in the world. In 1901, its oil output accounted for almost half of the world's oil output.

When the Baku Oil Field had its highest output, its output once reached more than 70% of the entire Soviet Union's oil output!

Of course, that was before the large-scale exploitation of Siberia's oil and gas resources.

According to the agreement reached between United Energy Group and Russia, the crude oil and natural gas they purchased mainly come from its North Caucasus and Volga-Ural production areas, and are transported to Romania via the Black Sea.

United Energy Group will invest in the construction of a large oil refining base in Romania to process these crude oils.

Similarly, the crude oil and natural gas produced in Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea region will also be transported to Romania for processing through oil and gas pipelines.

In fact, the oil and gas resources produced by Azerbaijan itself are transported to Europe through two channels, one of which is from Azerbaijan through the Georgian pipeline, and then shipped to Europe via the Black Sea; the other is through the Turkish oil and gas pipeline, and then shipped to Europe via the Mediterranean.

For United Energy Group, after the oil refining base in Romania is built, it only needs to be loaded at the port of Georgia and shipped across the Black Sea to supply Europe after refining in Romania.

Speaking of which, the "Transcaucasian Three Countries" of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan can be said to be located in a very important position, at the intersection of the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.

But the three countries are also sandwiched between Turkey and Russia, and life is not easy for them.

For example, Georgia, the hometown of the Soviet "father", the original Ossetia region was divided into South Ossetia and North Ossetia by the Caucasus Mountains.

This area has always been inhabited by the Ossetians. North Ossetia belongs to Russia. South Ossetia has had great conflicts with Georgia in history. South Ossetia once declared independence through a referendum in January 1992, but due to this conflict with Georgia During the war, with the help of Russia, the two sides finally reached a ceasefire, and peacekeeping forces composed of Georgia, Russia and Ossetia were stationed there.

Finally, in 2008, Georgia believed that the time had come, and with the assurance from the United States that "Russia would not interfere", while the world's attention was focused on the Olympics - the emperor also expressed his views as Prime Minister at that time. The identity also went there to participate in the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, and then the Georgian military launched an attack on South Ossetia on August 8, entered that area, and occupied it in a short time...

After the war broke out, the emperor immediately rushed back to the country. Then under his command, Russian soldiers pressed on the border and occupied the entire territory of Georgia in just 10 days.

The final result was that Russia forced Georgia to stop interfering in the two autonomous republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - yes, the consequence of Georgia's proactive attack was that it not only lost control of South Ossetia, but also lost additional The Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia...

This war also allowed Russia's sphere of influence to cross the Caucasus Mountains and establish a strategic fulcrum in the Transcaucasus region.

As for the other two Transcaucasian countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan, they are not peaceful either.

Shortly before Barron was reborn in his previous life, Armenia and Azerbaijan were at war with each other.

To put it simply, the conflict between the two sides lies in the Nagorno-Karabakh region (gray and red areas). To put it simply, the Nagorno-Karabakh region is to Armenia and Azerbaijan similar to Jerusalem to Israel and Palestine.

Armenians once mainly lived in this area, but the three Transcaucasian countries have always been sandwiched between two major countries, Russia and Turkey, which resulted in complicated relations between them.

Armenians believe in Christianity and Azerbaijanis believe in Islam.

When the Ottoman Turkish forces invaded here, the Armenians were driven away from the Nagorno-Karabakh region and introduced Azerbaijanis who believed in Islam like them.

But Tsarist Russia was so powerful that when it came here, it moved back the Armenians who also believed in Christianity, and the Azerbaijanis became a minority...

Later, both Armenia and Azerbaijan joined the Soviet Union, and the area finally stopped. Although the Soviet Union placed the Nagorno-Karabakh region under the administration of Azerbaijan, most of the people here were Armenians at that time. If the Soviet Union had always existed, they would all be members of the same family anyway, and there would not be much Big question.

However, the Soviet Union collapsed...

So when the Soviet Union collapsed and Armenia declared its independence, it brought the Nagorno-Karabakh region (with Armenians in the majority) together. At that time, a war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but because Armenia received arms support from Russia, it was the winning side. Therefore, the Nagorno-Karabakh region belonged to Armenia.

However, Azerbaijan has never given up its fight for the Nagorno-Karabakh region. In addition, Azerbaijan has oil and can buy more weapons.

Moreover, Azerbaijan and Turkey are both pan-Turkic countries and have recognized Turkey as their big brother (they have an enclave in the Nakhichivan Autonomous Republic that borders Turkey). Turkey has given Azerbaijan great support, including the production line of drones.

Finally, in 2022 in the original time and space, Azerbaijan recaptured the Nagorno-Karabakh region in the war with Armenia. In this war, Azerbaijan relied on their drone technology that was stronger than Armenia to gain an advantage.

In addition, they also hope to further capture the Zangezur Corridor to connect their homeland with the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, an enclave bordering Turkey.

This is why United Energy Group chose to mainly exploit their oil and gas resources in Azerbaijan and did not invest heavily in building an oil refining base there.

After all, the situation in places like the three Transcaucasus countries is very complicated. Russia, Turkey, and NATO are all focusing their attention here. As Barron, his presence there is too strong. NATO is easy to talk about. NATO like Turkey The rebels and Russia will definitely be very afraid of them.

For Barron, there is no need to provoke this kind of fear now. He might as well run his European industry well.

For example, the petroleum refining base invested by United Energy Group in Romania is very popular with the local government. In addition, O2 Telecom occupies a certain market in Romania, which also allows its influence to enter here.