Chapter 619: Qatar’s Opportunity

In the afternoon, Liu Tao welcomed his friend Nasser from Bahrain!

The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island country located in the southwest of the Persian Gulf, between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. It has a land area of ​​only 779.95 square kilometers, not even a county in China.

Although the Kingdom of Bahrain did not declare independence until August 15, 1971, Bahrain was the first country to exploit oil in the Gulf. As early as the 1930s, Bahrain discovered the first oil well in the Middle East and was the first to conduct commercial operations in the Gulf. countries that exploit oil.

Although Bahrain does not have huge oil reserves like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Persia, and the United Arab Emirates, its oil production is astonishing. However, Bahrain also has a small population, with only 500,000 people. Bahrain has proven oil reserves of 22 million tons and natural gas of 118.2 billion cubic meters. Bahrain produces 50,000 barrels of oil per day. Except for a small amount for its own use, most of the oil is exported. , oil exports can earn US$5.6 billion every year.

Nasser came here to buy missile boats and torpedo boats.

Although Bahrain is small, it also has a coast guard. As early as 1979, Bahrain purchased a fast attack boat, two 38-meter-long patrol boats, three landing craft and a wing boat from West Germany.

Bahrain has limited financial resources and has no plans to buy large ships such as frigates and destroyers, but it does want to buy Type 022 missile boats and Type 022A torpedo boats to enhance the strength of the Coast Guard.

Bahrain’s order is very small, with only three Type 022 missile boats and four Type 022A torpedo boats, with a total order of only US$300 million.

But Liu Tao didn't look unhappy at all, and always had a smile on his face.

As the saying goes, mosquito meat is still meat no matter how small it is. As long as there is an order, there will be profits. Every ship built will create jobs for China.

Furthermore, Bahrain's oil reserves are not as abundant as other major oil-producing countries, but Bahrain's natural gas reserves are huge.

Nowadays, natural gas is restricted by transportation and not much is extracted.

But Liu Tao knows that the development of LNG ships will bring opportunities to natural gas!

Therefore, in addition to deploying oil, iron ore, copper mines, gold mines, grain, etc., Liu Tao has also been actively deploying natural gas in recent years.

Bahrain is one of them.

In recent years, both parties have cooperated a lot. For example, the mercenary group accepted part of Bahrain's defense contracts.

In the afternoon, Liu Tao entertained his friend ‘Saad’ from Qatar.

Because of the butterfly effect caused by Liu Tao's little butterfly, China established diplomatic relations with many countries after the reform and opening up, including Qatar.

Liu Tao was also the first to lay out, invest and cooperate with Qatar.

Because he is deeply impressed by Qatar and knows how much potential it has.

As for how he knew, it was naturally because he had learned more about Qatar after the Qatar World Cup.

At that time, Qatar had proven oil reserves of 26 billion barrels, ranking 14th in the world in crude oil reserves, proven natural gas reserves of more than 25.5 trillion cubic meters, accounting for about 12% of the global share, and helium reserves of 10.1 billion cubic meters. Ranking second in the world, accounting for 19.4% of global reserves. and

When Liu Tao deployed Qatar, Qatar had proven oil reserves of 25 million tons, which is about 183 million barrels; proven natural gas reserves were 2.9 trillion cubic meters.

Now, under Liu Tao's control, Qatar's proven oil reserves have climbed to 25 billion barrels, ranking 11th in the world. Proven natural gas reserves have reached 24 trillion cubic meters, second only to the Soviet Union.

Qatar's oil assets have also increased to 1 million barrels per day. Except for part of it for its own use, most of it is used for export.

In just a few years, Qatar has become a major oil-producing country, earning a large amount of foreign exchange and becoming one of the developed countries in the world.

Although Panshan Group only gets a part of the profit, the profit is not small.

When I met Saad this time, we were really old friends.

It has been three years since Saad came to China.

The negotiations between the two parties went smoothly, covering weapons and equipment for the army, navy and air force.

Unlike others who only talk about warships, this time Qatar is going all-round.

Panshan Group wants to help Qatar build a small but powerful army.

There are only 420,000 people in Qatar, so the army is destined to not have a large number of troops.

The scale of the army specially built by Panshan Group for Qatar has a total strength of 11,800, including 8,500 from the Army, 1,500 from the Air Force, and 1,500 from the Navy! In addition to the Qataris, about 3,000 people are manned by mercenaries.

Establish a Royal Guards brigade with three infantry battalions; two mechanized infantry brigades with four mechanized infantry battalions, an artillery battalion and a direct special forces unit; an armored brigade with one armored battalion, one mechanized infantry battalion and one Anti-tank battalion.

The army's equipment and weapons mainly include more than 600 armored and special vehicles, including 94 Type 80 main battle tanks, 36 Type 81 infantry fighting vehicles, 40 armored vehicles, 158 military trucks, 4 Type 81 self-propelled mortars, 24 Type 81 self-propelled anti-tank vehicles, 32 Type 81 light tanks, etc.

Air force equipment includes 20 J-7M fighter jets, 20 J-8II fighter jets, 20 J-10 fighter jets, 5 K8 training aircraft, 5 J-7A high-education aircraft, and 5 Eagle high-education aircraft.

Navy equipment, equipped with 8 Type 022 missile boats, 8 Type 022A torpedo boats, 1 Type 83 minesweeper, 1 Type 84 minesweeper, etc., mainly for offshore defense, plus other small special ships, a total of 80 ships!

In addition to air defense missiles, bullets, shells, spare parts, training costs, etc., up to 5 billion US dollars, it took 4 years to build a modern force for Qatar.

Once Qatar builds a modern force, it will be a long-term business, and you can make some money every year.

Qatar can now earn tens of billions of dollars every year from oil exports, which is enough to support the cost of rebuilding this part of the force.

One of the important reasons why this construction plan was not launched before was that Qatar did not have so much oil revenue at that time, and it was necessary to send some officers to study at the Military Command Academy of China first.

And now, the time is ripe.

Speaking of the outbreak of the "Iran-Iraq Ship Attack War", it put a lot of pressure on Qatar, and suddenly made the top leaders of Qatar realize that the Persian Gulf is not safe, and it may be destroyed if you are not careful, and you need to strengthen your own armed forces.

Otherwise, I'm afraid Qatar's top leaders would not have made this decision.

So, everything has its pros and cons, and it has two sides.

The outbreak of the "Iran-Iraq War" and the "Iran-Iraq Ship Raid War" is a big disadvantage for many people, but for some people, it is an opportunity.

For example, for Qatar, not only did its oil revenue increase significantly, but it also took this opportunity to reshape its armed forces and greatly enhance its military strength.

Similarly, for other Middle Eastern oil-producing countries, even the world's major oil-producing countries, except the United States, it is also a rare opportunity.

Among them, Venezuela is a good example.