On September 28, oil prices, which continued to rise, hit their highest gain of the month, closing at US$71 per barrel, more than doubling compared to a year ago. Jiang Chen also saw the pressure that high oil prices have put on the global economy from the financial report of Future Heavy Industries.
Affected by rising costs, profits from multiple projects of Futureren Heavy Industry dropped by 13% year-on-year compared to the previous quarter. Future Human Biotechnology and Future Human Mining were also slightly affected. Future Human’s tourism profits were the same as last quarter. The only company that maintained an upward trend was Future Human Technology.
As long as we maintain technological leadership, the Internet will be like an endless gold mine.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) issued a statement on the same day that OPEC member states will hold an informal meeting in Algeria in October to discuss a moderate increase in production to maintain the stability of the oil market. Only when oil prices stabilize within a relatively reasonable range can the interests of these oil-producing countries be maximized.
If the global economy slumps due to oil prices, although they can make a fortune in a short period of time, their lives will become difficult when oil demand shrinks.
However, the announcement did not curb the rising oil prices.
Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, once said: How can you burn such a precious chemical raw material like petroleum
The level of petrochemical industry is one of the standards for measuring the development level of a country's basic industry, and ethylene production is a symbol of measuring the development level of a country's petrochemical industry. The fuel function is only the last function of petroleum. Otherwise, why not use gasoline to measure the development level of the country's basic industry
Basic chemical raw materials including ethylene, propylene, butadiene, benzene, toluene, and xylene are all derived from petroleum!
Oil prices are too high, which is indeed a big trouble for emerging economies.
However, for Jiang Chen, who has the entire 22nd century technology, this trouble is not as big as imagined.
Not enough oil? Just use something else instead!
At this moment, in the laboratory of Future Human Biotechnology, Jiang Chen walked into the training area with branch CEO Tao Ming.
"this way please."
Tao Ming made a gesture of invitation and opened the door for Jiang Chen respectfully.
The door opens and fresh air blows in.
The circular shed roof is covered with six grid-shaped graphene sheets, and below is a test field composed of separated culture tanks. In these culture tanks, there are plants that look like palm trees standing.
A dozen researchers surrounded the culture tank, some were responsible for recording data, some were debugging experimental equipment, and some were checking the growth status of the plants.
When he saw Jiang Chen and the director of the institute walking in, the researcher who was leading the experimental team's eyes lit up and he immediately stepped forward.
This white man in a white coat looks tall and thin, about fifty years old.
"This is Mr. Jiang Chen, the chairman of our group." Tao Ming said with a smile to the researcher who was walking towards him, and then introduced Jiang Chen beside him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jiang Chen. I have admired your name for a long time." Sullivan smiled, showing his white teeth, took Jiang Chen's hand and shook it.
Immediately afterwards, Tao Ming introduced Professor Sullivan in front of Jiang Chen.
"This is Professor Bill Sullivan, whom we hired from MIT. His research fields are bioengineering and genetic technology. His main research direction is petroleum plants. He has an authoritative position in research related to improved petroleum grass."
"It's also a pleasure to meet you, Professor Sullivan. Thanks for joining us, our research project has taken a big step forward." Jiang Chen said with a smile, holding Professor Sullivan's hand.
"No, no, no, I should be the one thanking you." After letting go, Sullivan shook his head seriously, looked at Jiang Chen and said, "The DNA code you provided is very interesting. After seeing the information, Several problems that had troubled me were suddenly solved. Can I know who invented those codes? If it is convenient, I hope to communicate with him."
"Well, this is a bit difficult. Due to various reasons, he can't come here for the time being." Jiang Chen casually blurred the question and then changed the topic, "Let's not talk about this anymore, how is the research progress? ?Can you show it to me?"
When Jiang Chen asked about the research progress, Sullivan looked quite proud.
"Of course, I'll show it to you."
After saying that, he turned around and led 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 what we found, oil palm."
With that said, Sullivan gestured to his assistant, took the gloves from him and put them on, then opened the glass cover of the culture cabin.
"After modifying the DNA of the oil palm and modifying 37 DNA fragments, after two generations of cultivation, we got the variant oil palm tree called 'oil palm'. The reason why it is called oil palm is because The oil he produces is no longer the original palm oil, but a liquid that is nearly 90% similar to petroleum... just like this."
As he spoke, he took the knife from his assistant and lightly slashed it on the surface of the palm tree.
An amazing scene appeared.
Just by scratching the bark of the tree, the dark red blood-like sap flowed down the shallow wound!
The assistant wearing plastic gloves stepped forward, took 20ml of liquid in a beaker, and then took it to an instrument to conduct on-site component identification.
Soon, a report was placed in front of Jiang Chen.
Although he couldn't understand it, Jane had already interpreted various parameters on the report for him.
Indeed, as Professor Sullivan said, the composition of the sap produced by this oil palm is surprisingly similar to that of oil! With a little processing, you can get oil that's even better than what's mined from the ground!
"At first we tried to produce this liquid through the fruits. But later we found that if the oil-secreting tissue was designed into the vegetative tissue of the plant, the production efficiency would be greatly reduced. Later we simply deleted the relevant DNA, completely transformed it into a fruitless palm tree, and then designed the oil-secreting organ next to the conductive tissue, and finally we got what we have now." As he spoke, Professor Sullivan excitedly knocked on the button Knock on the glass cover outside the culture tank, "You only need to make a small opening in the bark, and you can harvest a large amount of oil from the conduits under the bark!"
Looking at this plant that looked no different from a palm tree, Jiang Chen's expression became more exciting.
My darling, from growing oil in the ground, this damn RMB is like a growing currency!
Although the relevant DNA of the petroleum plant was brought over from the database in the apocalypse, a piece of DNA code that was completely incomprehensible was far less shocking than seeing this "black gold" emerge from under the bark of the tree!
Oh no, it's a dark red liquid...what the hell! As long as oil can be extracted!
"What is the production cycle of this plant?" Jiang Chen asked immediately.
In his impression, the initial growth of palm plants is quite slow. After reaching the mature stage, the growth rate is only about one meter per year. If we wait five years to use this palm tree to mass-produce oil, the day lilies will be cold by then!
"Instead of planting new seedlings, we can use special methods to induce differentiation of oil palm, causing specific changes in some structures of its vegetative and conductive tissues, and then we can obtain the finished plant! The cycle of this induced differentiation is about only Two months!" Sullivan said with certainty.
"Haha, you have made a great contribution this time!" Jiang Chen suddenly showed a look of joy, patted Sullivan on the shoulder and said loudly, "All researchers participating in this project will receive 500,000 yuan." A US dollar bonus! As for Professor Sullivan, I will personally reward him with another five million US dollars!"
Everyone in the institute gasped. Even Tao Ming, who was standing behind Jiang Chen, couldn't help but frown.
The bonuses alone are in the tens of millions, and I'm afraid no one in the world can do this.
However, Jiang Chen didn't feel that the money was worth it at all. He never skimped on spending on researchers.
Talent is always the core of Future People Group. Only by retaining these talents can we have a future!
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