On September 28th, the rising oil price reached its highest rise in the month, closing at 71 US Dollar per barrel, more than double the price of the year before. The pressure caused by high oil prices on the global economy was also seen by Jiang Chen from Future Heavy Industrial's financial report.
Due to the impact of rising costs, the profits of many projects of Future Heavy Industrial fell by 13% compared to the previous quarter. Future Biology and Future Mining were also slightly affected. Future Tourism's profit was the same as the previous quarter, and the only one that maintained an upward trend was Future Technology.
As long as the technology was maintained, the Internet was like an endless gold mine.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) issued a statement on the same day that OPEC member states would hold an informal meeting in Algeria in October to discuss appropriate production increases to maintain the stability of the oil market. Only when the oil price stabilized within a relatively reasonable range could the interests of these oil-producing countries be maximized.
If the global economy weakened because of oil prices, although they could make a fortune in a short period of time, the subsequent decline in oil demand would also make their lives difficult.
However, after the announcement, it didn't stop the rising oil prices.
Tesla's old boss, Elon Musk, once said: Petroleum is such a precious chemical material, and you're burning it?
The level of petrochemical industry was one of the standards to measure the level of a country's basic industrial development. Ethylene production was a symbol to measure the level of development of a country's petrochemical industry. And the fuel function was only one of the functions of petroleum. Otherwise, why not use gasoline to measure the level of a country's basic industrial development?
Including ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, and xylene as the representative of the basic chemical raw materials, all came from petroleum!
High oil prices were indeed a big problem for emerging economies.
However, for Jiang Chen, who owned the entire 22nd century technology, the problem wasn't as big as imagined.
Not enough oil? Then I'll just replace it with something else!
At the moment, in the laboratory of Future Biology, Jiang Chen followed the branch CEO Tao Ming into the cultivation area.
"This way please."
Tao Ming made a welcoming gesture and respectfully opened the door for Jiang Chen.
When the door opened, the fresh air blew in.
The round roof was covered with six grid-like graphene boards, and below was an experimental field composed of separated cultivation tanks. In these cultivation tanks, there were many plants shaped like palm trees.
More than ten researchers surrounded the culture tank. Some were in charge of recording data, some were adjusting the equipment, and some were checking the growth of the plants.
When the researcher leading the experimental team saw Jiang Chen and the director of the institute walk in, his eyes lit up and he immediately walked up.
The white man in the white coat looked very tall and thin. He looked to be in his fifties.
"This is the president of our group, Mr. Jiang Chen." Tao Ming smiled at the researcher who walked over and introduced Jiang Chen beside him.
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Jiang Chen. I've heard a lot about you." Sullivan revealed his white teeth and shook Jiang Chen's hand.
Then, Tao Ming introduced Professor Sullivan to Jiang Chen.
"This is Professor Bill Sullivan, whom we hired from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research field is bioengineering and genetic technology, and his main research direction is petroleum plants. He has an authoritative position in the research of improved petroleum plants."
"Pleased to meet you too, Professor Sullivan. Thank you for joining us. Our research project has taken a big step forward. "Jiang Chen shook Professor Sullivan's hand and smiled.
"No, no, no, I should be the one thanking you." After letting go of his hand, Sullivan shook his head very seriously and looked at Jiang Chen. "The DNA code you provided is very interesting. After seeing the information, several problems that previously troubled me were suddenly solved. Can I know who invented the code? If it's convenient, I hope to communicate with him. "
"Uh, that's a bit difficult. For various reasons, he can't come here for the time being." Jiang Chen casually answered the question and then changed the topic. "Let's not talk about this anymore. How's the research progress? Can you show it to me? "
When Jiang Chen asked about the research progress, Sullivan's expression looked quite proud.
"Of course, I'll show you now."
After that, he turned around and took Jiang Chen and Tao Ming to a "palm tree". Then he spread his hands in the direction of the culture tank and smiled.
"This is the result of our research, petroleum palm."
Sullivan gestured to the assistant, took the gloves from his hand, put them on, and opened the glass cover of the culture tank.
"After modifying the DNA of the oil palm, 37 DNA fragments were modified, and after two generations of cultivation, the current mutated oil palm tree called 'oil palm' was obtained. The reason why it is called oil palm is that the oil produced is no longer the original palm oil, but a liquid with a similarity of nearly 90% to oil … just like this. "
As he spoke, he took the knife from the assistant and gently scratched the surface of the palm tree.
An amazing scene appeared.
He had only scratched the tree bark, but the dark red, blood-like sap flowed down the shallow wound!
The assistant with plastic gloves stepped forward, used a beaker to collect 20ml of liquid, and then took it to an instrument to identify the composition on the spot.
Soon, a report was placed in front of Jiang Chen.
Although he couldn't understand it, Jean had already interpreted the parameters on the report for him.
Indeed, as Professor Sullivan said, the sap produced by this oil palm was indeed surprisingly similar to oil! With just a little processing, it could produce oil of even higher quality than that extracted from the ground!
"At first, we tried to produce this liquid through the fruit. But later we found that if the oil-secreting tissue was designed in the plant's nutritional tissue, it would greatly reduce the production efficiency. Later, we simply deleted the relevant DNA and completely transformed it into a palm tree that does not bear fruit. Then we designed the oil-secreting organ next to the conductive tissue, and finally we got what we have now. " Professor Sullivan excitedly knocked on the glass cover outside the culture tank. "Just make a small opening in the bark, and you can harvest a large amount of oil from the duct under the bark!"
Looking at this plant that looked no different from a palm tree, Jiang Chen's expression also became interesting.
[My goodness, growing oil from the ground, this is like growing RMB!]
Although he brought the relevant DNA of the oil plant from the database in the apocalypse, a piece of DNA code that he couldn't understand at all was far less shocking than seeing the "black gold" under the bark with his own eyes!
Oh no, it's a dark red liquid … Who cares! As long as he could extract oil!
"What's the production cycle of this plant?" Jiang Chen asked immediately.
As far as he could remember, the initial growth of palms was rather slow. After reaching maturity, it would only grow at a rate of about one meter per year. If he had to wait five years to use this kind of palm tree to produce oil, it would be too late!
"There's no need to start planting from the seedlings. We can use special means to induce differentiation of the oil palm, so that part of the structure in its nutritional tissue and conductive tissue has specific mutations, and we can obtain the finished plant! The cycle of this induced differentiation is only about two months! "Sullivan said with certainty.
"Haha, this time you've made a great contribution!" Jiang Chen suddenly showed a look of joy, patted Sullivan on the shoulder, and said loudly, "All the researchers involved in the project will receive a bonus of 500,000 US Dollar! As for Professor Sullivan, I will personally reward him with another 5 million US Dollar! "
Everyone in the research institute sucked in a breath of cold air. Even Tao Ming, who stood behind Jiang Chen, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
The bonus alone was tens of millions. No one else in the world would be able to do this.
However, Jiang Chen didn't feel that the money was worthless. He would never be stingy on researchers.
Talents were always the core of Future Group. Only by retaining these talents could they have a future!
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