Mediterranean hegemon

ps: I moved to a different place and my room number is 404. Do you have any in-depth numerology analysis?

"Or do they have no desire to compete with us at all?" Agnelli muttered first, then denied it himself, "How is that possible? If he doesn't compete with us, why would he get on a plane, a tank, or a car? There are so many ways to make money, why do you have to rush into these? Doesn’t he have no one to compete with him in the chemical industry and steel industry?”

"How large-scale is his chemical industry?"

“A petroleum refinery in Genoa with an annual design capacity of 25 million barrels; a comprehensive refinery in Venice with an annual design capacity of 20 million barrels; and there are five other refineries in Livorno, Ancona, Bari, Naples, and Trieste. The chemical plant is expected to have an overall capacity of digesting 10 million barrels of oil per year; the three coal chemical bases of Udinese, Parma, and Verona are expected to consume 10-12 million tons of raw coal. However, it is said that some coke is imported from Germany. Support the steel industry; in addition, he has 4 power plants under construction, and I heard that he will invest in 4 more this year. The strangest thing is that 2 of them are actually in Tripoli and Benghazi. I don’t know what the use is of building large power plants in such places. "Little Agnelli frowned, "I still don't understand his industrial and economic layout, nor his business logic. Even if his funds are large enough to complete all these projects, he plans to let Who is going to digest it? Can Lianhe himself digest it? Is this still a way to make money?”

Just when Agnelli and his son complained that they couldn't understand Contini's operations, someone was thinking about the same question and asked Contini face to face.

At the warm invitation of Contini and the personal introduction of Hitler, Dr. Toth joined the United Group management team and served as the assistant to the president of the group. This is the second assistant to the president and is closer to the chief engineer in nature. Although Contini gave The position is crucial, but Todt is very modest. He didn't say a word after arriving in Italy. He only immersed himself in reading the information and studying the development plan formulated by the United Group. It took a full month and a half before he started communicating with Contini. Such a down-to-earth attitude Contini admired his style very much, but when faced with the questions he asked, Contini laughed on the spot.

"Doctor, I have no intention of making money! This president will not look at losses in 5 years, and will not consider balance issues in 10 years. Profitability will be a matter of concern after 10 years... Of course, this does not mean that we can be extravagant and wasteful. The slogan of the United Group is very clear: rapid, efficient and low-cost expansion! Take a faster, more cost-effective and general route for Italian industrial construction.”

Toth changed his serious face: "Even if you don't consider money or budget, you should also consider the industrial layout and structure, right? You don't want these modern industries that you have worked so hard to build to turn into expensive, idle toys. And no one cares about it?"

"Doctor, we can talk about everything. I won't hide anything from you, and you don't have to worry too much. Although we are bosses and employees, I hope you can help me treat me as a comrade. He is a person who can carry out economic, industrial and academic exchanges..."

"Then I'll tell the truth..." Toth mused, "I don't understand many aspects of the United Group's development plan. In my eyes, there are many problems lurking under such a grand development plan. Let me go one by one. The first thing I pointed out to you is the power issue.”

"You said."

"Italy's total installed power capacity is only 1 million kilowatts (excluding small internal generating units of large enterprises). Although it is currently experiencing some power shortages, I think it is not insurmountable. This gap can be overcome by improving management and strengthening line maintenance. Supplement. Even if it grows at an annual rate of 20%, Italy's electricity demand will double in 4 years, and it will only need 2 million installed capacity by 1929. However, the group has directly invested in the construction of at least 3.6 million kilowatt power stations. This makes me very unhappy. understand."

"Wait a minute, the information you have is not the latest. The current plan is 4 million kilowatts. I have just planned to build two new power plants in Tripoli and Benghazi with an installed capacity of 200,000 kilowatts each."

United Group actually wants to invest 400,000 kilowatts of installed capacity in Libya? Toth exclaimed: "President, there are 40 million people in Italy, and Libya doesn't even have 400,000. Why do we need so much electricity? I don't think it is a good idea to build new industrial facilities in Libya. You also said that in the future, This area may not be peaceful, and there are shipping restrictions on the Libyan line.”

“You are right, building new power plants in Tripoli and Benghazi seems to be a waste, but there are several factors you did not see in the plan: first, there is natural gas near these two areas, and natural gas fuel power plants can be built; second, , I plan to set up a primary aluminum smelting plant here. I have signed a series of agreements with the Soviet Union, Turkey, and Greece to import aluminum ore from these countries. Although shipping to Libya is almost the same as to southern Italy, since electricity is cheap here, then I will. It is necessary to build a metallurgical plant in Libya to refine aluminum ingots, and then transport them back to the country for deep processing..."

Toth nodded first, and now the logic made sense: the natural gas discovered in Libya is a good combustion carrier, and it would be a waste if it is not used. There is no incredibly large LNG ship (liquefied natural gas) in this time and space. If the liquefied natural gas is transported back in cylinders, the cost will be less than setting up a gas plant directly in the country, at least with the current technology. After the construction of the natural gas power station is completed, the electrolytic aluminum project can be launched. This is an extremely power-hungry power tiger. It takes at least 15,000 kWh of electricity to complete one ton of electrolytic aluminum.

After a silent calculation, Toth began to shake his head again: "Even so, the scale is still too large. Even if natural gas is free (minus the cost of mining), power plant construction does cost money. If it is purely aluminum smelting, I am afraid that Italy will not be able to digest it all."

400,000 kilowatts of total installed capacity, under the condition of full-load power generation in one year (calculated as 7,000 hours, the theoretical hours for the whole year are 8,760, but minus the time for inspection, maintenance, and maintenance, it is very good to reach 7,000 hours), that is, 2.8 billion degrees. All of this electricity is used for electrolysis of aluminum, which will be 186,700 tons of aluminum ingots. This number surprised Toth.

Contini smiled and said, "It is impossible to use all the electricity for electrolytic aluminum, because port dredging, expansion, transportation, airports, residential areas, and barracks all need electricity. After the completion of these two power plants, it will be very good if they can guarantee the production of 50,000 tons of aluminum ingots."

"Even 50,000 tons is too high. Italy's current consumption is less than 5,000 tons a year. Do you plan to export?"

"I have no plans to export. This is for my own use. I doubt that 50,000 tons is enough."

Tot was a little confused by what Contini said: A country that consumes 5,000 tons a year actually said that 50,000 tons is not enough?