The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 619: Qatar’s Opportunities
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. Its land area is only 779.95 square kilometers, which is smaller than a county in China.

Although the Kingdom of Bahrain did not declare independence until August 1971, 8, Bahrain was the first country in the Gulf region to exploit oil. As early as the 15s, Bahrain discovered the first oil well in the Middle East and was the first country in the Gulf region to engage in commercial oil exploitation.

Although Bahrain does not have huge oil reserves and amazing oil production like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Persia, and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain has a small population of only 50 people, and Bahrain has 2200 million tons of proven oil reserves and 1182 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Bahrain produces 5 barrels of oil per day. Except for a small amount used by itself, most of the oil is exported, earning $ million to $ million from oil exports each year.

Nasser came at this time to buy missile boats and torpedo boats.

巴林虽然小，但是也是建有海岸警卫队，早在1979年巴林就从西德采购1艘快速攻击艇、2艘38米长的巡逻艇、3艘登陆艇和1艘翼艇。

Bahrain has limited financial resources and has no plans to buy large ships such as frigates and destroyers, but it wants to buy Type 022 missile boats and Type 022A torpedo boats to enhance the strength of its coast guard.

巴林的订单很小，只有3艘022型导弹艇、4艘022A型鱼雷艇，总订单也就3亿美元。

But Liu Tao did not look unhappy at all and always had a smile on his face.

As the saying goes, no matter how small a piece of meat is, it is still meat. As long as there is an order, there will be profit. Every ship built will create a job for China.

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

Currently, natural gas is limited in transportation and not much is mined.

But Liu Tao knows clearly that the development of LNG ships will bring opportunities for natural gas!
Therefore, in addition to investing in 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.

Over the years, the two sides have had a lot of cooperation. For example, the mercenary group accepted part of Bahrain's defense contracts.

In the afternoon, Liu Tao entertained his Qatari friend 'Saad'.

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

Liu Tao was also one of the first people to make plans, invest and cooperate in Qatar.

Because he was deeply impressed by Qatar and knew how huge its potential was.

As for how he knew this, it was naturally because he had done some research on Qatar after the Qatar World Cup.

At that time, Qatar had proven oil reserves of 260 billion barrels, ranking 25.5th in the world in crude oil reserves, and proved natural gas reserves of more than 12 trillion cubic meters, accounting for about 101% of the world's share. Helium reserves were 19.4 billion cubic meters, ranking second in the world, accounting for % of the world's reserves.

When Liu Tao was planning his plan for Qatar, Qatar had proven oil reserves of 2500 million tons, or about 1.83 million barrels; and proven natural gas reserves of 2.9 trillion cubic meters.

By now, under Liu Tao's control, Qatar's proven oil reserves have climbed to 250 billion barrels, ranking 24th in the world. Its proven natural gas reserves have reached trillion cubic meters, second only to the Soviet Union.

Qatar's oil assets have also increased to 100 million barrels per day. In addition to a portion of it being used for its own use, most of it is used for export.

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

Although Panshan Group only gets a portion of the profits, the profit is not small. This time, when meeting Saad, the two sides are really old friends.

It has been three years since Saad came to China.

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

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

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

Qatar has only 42 people, so its army is destined not to be very strong.

The army that Panshan Group has specially built for Qatar has a total strength of 11800 people, including 8500 in the army, 1500 in the air force, and 1500 in the navy! In addition to Qataris, there are about 3000 mercenaries.

Establish a Royal Guard Brigade with three infantry battalions under it; two mechanized infantry brigades with four mechanized infantry battalions, one artillery battalion and a direct special forces unit; and an armored brigade with one armored battalion, one mechanized infantry battalion and one anti-tank battalion.

陆军装备武器主要有600多辆装甲与特种车辆，主要有94辆80式主战坦克、36辆81式步兵战车、40辆装甲车、158辆军用卡车、4辆81式自行迫击炮、24辆81式自行反坦克车、32辆81式轻型坦克等等。

空军装备，包括20架‘歼7M’战斗机、20架‘歼8II’、20架歼10战斗机、5架K8教练机、5架‘歼教7A’高教机、5架‘雄鹰’高教机。

海军装备，装备8艘022型导弹艇、8艘022A型鱼雷艇、1艘83型扫雷艇、1艘84型扫雷艇等，主要是以近海防御为主，再加上其他小型特种船只，总共80艘！
Add to that anti-aircraft missiles, bullets, shells, spare parts, and training costs, totaling $50 billion, and it will take four years to build a modern force for Qatar.

Once we help Qatar build a modern army, it will be a long-term business and we can make some money every year.

Qatar now earns tens of billions of dollars each year from oil exports, 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 that much oil revenue at the time, and it needed to send some officers to study abroad at China's Military Command Academy first.

And now, the time is ripe.

The outbreak of the "Iran-Iraq Ship Raid War" put a lot of pressure on Qatar, and made Qatar's top leaders realize that the Persian Gulf was not safe and that they might be destroyed if they were not careful, so they needed to strengthen their armed forces.

Otherwise, I am afraid that Qatar’s top leaders would not make this decision.

So, everything has its pros and cons.

The outbreak of the 'Iran-Iraq War' and the 'Iran-Iraq Ship Raid War' was a huge disadvantage for many people, but it was also an opportunity for some people.

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

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

Venezuela is a good example of this.

(End of this chapter)