In a Mediterranean-style villa, Kevin Taylor was walking in the yard with a large piece of fresh steak in his hands.
"Tiantian, it's time to eat. Dad bought you a fresh steak!" Kevin Taylor walked up to a tiger.
This tiger has been raised by Taylor since he was a child, and it is also Taylor's favorite pet. When Taylor was about to go bankrupt, he would not hesitate to sell a lot of his belongings and find ways to feed his tiger.
"Beep beep..." the doorbell rang,
"Someone is here, dad, go open the door!" Taylor threw all the remaining beef to "Tiantian", turned around and walked towards the door.
Parked in front of the door was a first-generation Ford Mustang, the one from 1968.
The price of the Ford Mustang is not expensive and can only be regarded as a civilian sports car. However, the first-generation Ford Mustang is already a classic car from fifty years ago. It is far more rare than many luxury cars. The 1968 Ford Mustang is even more classic. It is a classic and a collectible. Those who can drive such a super classic sports car are definitely not ordinary people.
Looking at the door again, there was a bald white man standing in front of the door. He was over 1.8 meters tall, in his thirties, and his face was a bit thin.
"Jimmy, why are you here!" Taylor obviously recognized the other party and opened the door to let the other party in.
"Kevin, long time no see." The white man did not come empty-handed. He handed a gift box to Taylor and then said: "The 2003 Paulin Winery, I hope you will like it."
Pauline Winery is one of the top ten red wine wineries in the United States and is located in the Sonoma region of California. Although Baolin Winery is very famous, its products are relatively high-quality and affordable compared to other well-known wineries.
"Thank you." Taylor took the gift box and invited the white man into the living room.
After the guests and hosts were seated, the two chatted for a few words, and then the white man took the lead in getting to the point.
"Kevin, I plan to come back!" the white man said.
"Why? You have retired for three years. It's time to enjoy life. Why are you planning to come back." Taylor's expression became surprised.
"I want to make money. I'm running out of money," the white man said.
Taylor looked at the white man in surprise, and he asked: "I remember that you don't know how to gamble, and you don't make many friends. What did you do? Where did your money go?"
As we all know, pornography, gambling, and drugs are all wasteful behaviors, but Taylor still knows the financial resources of this white man very well. If he is looking for a woman, even if he gets a prostitute, he will not spend all his money; if he is looking for drugs; If so, according to the price of drugs in the United States, this white man's money would be enough to smoke him to death. Moreover, white men don’t know how to gamble, and unlike black people, white men don’t have the habit of keeping a bunch of bad friends, so they shouldn’t spend money so quickly.
"I made a very bad investment. Almost all my belongings were invested, and I will lose everything soon." The white man replied.
"What exactly did you invest in? And now is no longer the time of the financial crisis a few years ago. Even the guys on Wall Street who eat people and don't spit out their bones have become cautious. Although some investments will lose money, they will lose all their money. But it’s a lot less,” Taylor said.
"I invested in oil. To be precise, shale oil." The white man said helplessly: "I partnered with others and invested in the extraction of shale oil. It was very good at the beginning and made a lot of money, but OPEC has recently begun to increase production and oil prices have plummeted. Not only are our oil wells unable to make money, we even lose a lot of money for every barrel of oil extracted."
Shale oil used to be a resource that was difficult to exploit. However, with the development of science and technology, especially the advancement of hydraulic fracturing technology, the cost of shale oil extraction has dropped significantly. And with the continuous improvement of technology, shale oil The cost of oil extraction will continue to decrease.
The return on investment time for shale oil production is also very short. The initial investment cycle only takes two to three months, while the investment cycle for traditional oil fields reaches five to seven years, which makes shale oil a good investment project. .
The current cost of shale oil extraction in the United States is US$40 to US$60 per barrel, and the cost of extraction varies in different regions. When international oil prices were high, the exploitation of shale oil could bring extremely high profits, and the returns would be quick, so there was a wave of investment in shale oil in the United States.
A large amount of shale oil is being exploited, which is equivalent to the increase in oil production in the United States. This will naturally reduce the amount of oil imported by the United States from OPEC. Moreover, due to the increase in the amount of shale oil extraction, the United States also plans to export shale oil, which is equivalent to From an oil importing country to an oil exporting country. For OPEC, the United States, which was originally a major customer, has also become a competitive competitor.
So OPEC launched a counterattack, they increased the supply of oil and began to push down oil prices. Take the Middle East as an example. The cost of oil extraction in their onshore oil fields is less than US$10 per barrel, so they are not afraid of a price war.
The price war began, and oil prices plummeted. OPEC's oil prices were even lower than the cost of extracting shale oil in the United States. All shale oil in the United States was at a loss, which meant that every barrel of oil produced was lost.
Since shale oil is extracted using hydraulic fracturing technology, once it is extracted, it cannot be stopped. The basic principle of hydraulic fracturing technology is to first inject fracturing fluid into the oil layer to build up pressure in the oil layer, and use the pressure to break through the oil layer to create cracks. Oil and natural gas can flow into the drilling head through these cracks. In order for the fracture to continue to open, in addition to injecting fracturing fluid, proppant must be continuously injected into it. Once the injection is stopped, the pressure in the oil layer is reduced and the cracks in the oil layer are closed, and everything done before is in vain.
Therefore, as long as shale oil drilling is produced, we can only continue to invest. Even if we are losing money, we must let the oil wells continue to produce oil. This is like a businessman buying a batch of goods and finding that he can't sell them at all. If he sells them below cost, he can make up for some losses. If he keeps them, he won't get a penny.
This is the situation that the white man is facing now. He wants to invest in shale oil, and even if the oil price on the market is already lower than the cost of extraction, he still has to keep investing money so that he can at least get it back. If you lose some money, you might make some money if oil prices rise. But if you stop investing, all your money will really be wasted.
Just listen to the white man continue to say: "I plan to come back and make some money. It would be best if I can participate in another Olympic Games. At least I can receive some advertising sponsorship."
"That's for sure. With your achievements in three Olympic Games and six Olympic gold medals, as long as you can appear in the Olympic Games, there will be no shortage of sponsors." Taylor said.
"I am very confident in my physical condition, but I am already 34 years old, and age is something I cannot ignore. This is why I came to you. You have returned to your peak physical condition before, so I would like to ask Help me!" the white man said sincerely.
"My ability to get back to the top is all because I found a good physical coach. You may have heard of him, he opened a chain of physical training centers in Los Angeles." Taylor smiled slightly and then said: "I can give you Recommended, but please explain in advance that his charges are a bit expensive!”