The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1013 - 761: Petroleum Layout

Chapter 1013: Chapter 761: Petroleum Layout

The introduction of the skilled workers’ job grading system and the minimum wage guarantee policy caused quite a significant stir domestically.

Of course, most of the impact was positive. People welcomed such a job grading system because it could truly raise their wage levels.

Especially for some workers who considered themselves competent, they planned to take the assessment for a level four worker certificate as soon as the technical assessment center in their region was completed, to achieve the highest salary grade among skilled workers.

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However, reality was not as ideal as they thought. The assessment for skilled workers had to be taken step by step. This meant that they had to start from a level one skilled worker and continue until they reached level four.

Knowing that the public’s reaction was largely positive, Arthur stopped paying attention to the subsequent grading divisions and assessments.

After all, the Cabinet Government could handle these tasks, and Arthur’s involvement might only add pressure on them.

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At the moment, what Arthur was more concerned about was how to create revenue for both the government and the royal family.

Of course, it was the government that needed to increase its income the most. Although the income of the royal family was not as high as the government’s, its expenditures were also much less.

Despite the government’s substantial income, they had to take care of the livelihood of over 30 million people in the Kingdom, which was an immense expense.

The royal family at present counted only a few members, and even with extravagant spending, the yearly income was already more than enough.

Of course, under Arthur’s orders and control, the royal family members had not shown any extravagant or wasteful behaviors thus far.

Arthur had set a rule for the Australasian Royal Family: after reaching adulthood, all royal family members would receive a gift from the royal financial group.

This gift could be a factory, an enterprise, or items and mineral resources of equivalent value, and so on.

Currently, the only adults were William and Anna. William’s gift was a rubber company, valued at roughly 3 million Australian dollars at the time.

After cashing in at its peak, William reinvested all the proceeds into the rubber industry on Java Island.

The total market value of the rubber companies William controlled had now broken through ten million Australian dollars, with annual profits exceeding 2 million Australian dollars, firmly establishing him as a multi-millionaire.

The gift Arthur presented to Anna was also an enterprise. Of course, following the principle of raising sons in modesty and daughters in wealth, Arthur had even more affection for Anna.

The previously mentioned Saxe-Coburg-Gotha watch company had a luxury factory called Victoria Jewelry, which Arthur gifted to Anna.

This luxury factory primarily produced various precious jewelry, necklaces, earrings, and even specialized ladies’ watches.

Its market value at the time was around 4 million Australian dollars, and now it has also exceeded ten million Australian dollars.

Of course, the soaring market value of this luxury factory was largely due to the devaluation of the Australian dollar, not Anna’s business strategy.

In the realm of business, Anna clearly lacked great interest. If it weren’t for her fondness for jewelry and watches, Arthur would not have given her this luxury company.

But on the other hand, Arthur gave William a rubber company to operate on his own, mainly to test William’s business capabilities.

Whereas gifting Anna with this luxury company was more about treating all his children equally and his fondness for Anna.

Even if the luxury company went bankrupt, Arthur was always ready to establish another company of equivalent market value and gift it to Anna under various pretexts.

Back to the main point. How can the government increase its fiscal revenue?

Aside from striving on the national front, the quickest and most effective way was to enable state-participated enterprises to achieve rapid expansion or to earn more profits.

After much thought, Arthur’s gaze still turned towards the Persian Gulf. There lay the immeasurably valuable massive oil fields, currently the area where large profits could be generated quickly.

Speaking of oil fields, it’s necessary to mention the current world oil prices.

After years of development, cars had become an indispensable part of people’s daily lives.

In more advanced urban cities, horses are rarely seen. After all, cars are faster, and also more stable and comfortable, far outpacing horses in this regard.

Moreover, horses would involuntarily defecate in the city, ruining the urban aesthetics and hygiene, which is one of the reasons big cities ban horses.

Cars are different. Although they also emit exhaust, the gases eventually drift into the sky, having little impact on urban beauty and cleanliness.

Of course, the public is not yet aware of the dangers of car exhaust. Moreover, factories and enterprises outside the city emit a large amount of waste gas, which is far more serious than car exhaust.

In a city like London, car exhaust is hardly noticeable. After all, the smog is far worse than the exhaust, and its color has long eclipsed that of car emissions.

Due to the continuous rise in car ownership, international oil prices are also in a steady upward trend.

As of July 1930, the international oil price was nearly five times what it was before World War I, and eleven times that of 1900, clearly demonstrating the terrifying rise in oil prices.

Although there were fluctuations along the way, for the most part, oil prices continued to steadily increase.

However, that being said, the amount of money that can be earned from exporting crude oil is limited.

Only by truly controlling the oil prices, being able to keep them within the desired range, can one truly reap sufficient profits.

Australasia currently controls a considerable part of the Persian Gulf region and essentially has the capital to control world oil prices.

But the issue is that Britain is another giant in the Persian Gulf, and the British have a large number of colonies there.

If Australasia were to start controlling world oil prices, the British would certainly cause trouble.

After all, Britain does not want to see Australasia earning a large amount of revenue from oil and then investing it into national development and military, to surpass Britain.

In such a scenario, the best outcome would be to jointly manage world oil prices with the British and achieve mutual prosperity in the oil sector.

Speaking of which, the Persian Gulf area jointly controlled by Britain and Australasia accounts for over 60% of the world’s oil reserves.

Furthermore, there are still a large number of undiscovered oil fields at this time, so this percentage might even be higher.

As long as Britain and Australasia can cooperate, controlling world oil prices should not pose a problem.

This would not only allow them to earn vast profits from oil price fluctuations but also influence those countries reliant on oil exports for their livelihood, weakening competitors.

Having considered this, Arthur also decided to take action.

Only by completely controlling oil prices, could more benefits be reaped in World War II.

Airplanes and tanks in World War II, which of them doesn’t require oil-driven machinery? It’s no exaggeration to say that, with the research in the field of engines, nations around the world have become dependent on oil as a vital source of energy.

If Australasia and Britain could control world oil prices, World War II would present an excellent opportunity for Australasia to plunder the assets of Europe.

Looking at the map, one can see that the Persian Gulf is quite close to Europe. Just by entering the Indian Ocean and passing through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea, oil can be transported to the European nations along the Mediterranean coast.

The shorter distance gives a price advantage, which also means that Australasia has the potential to become Europe’s oil supplier during World War II, possibly bringing in profits amounting to tens or even hundreds of billions of Australian dollars.

Even if European nations don’t have cash, they can exchange various resources, talent, industrial facilities, and machinery, or even issue IOUs.

By holding a large amount of European debt, Australasia’s influence over Europe could be further strengthened after World War II.

This is similar to World War I. Historically, the American People entered World War I with such ambitions, ultimately realizing their plan to ascend to the throne of the world’s superpower.

Even in this era, the American People harbored such ambitions during World War I, even willing to provide funds to the Allies to enter the war.

Unfortunately for them, due to Australasia’s early involvement, World War I ended prematurely, and the Americans did not gain much.

If the United States had profited, it probably wouldn’t have been that easy to deal with them after World War I.

After all, the greatest change wrought on the United States by World War I, in history, was its transition from a debtor nation to a creditor nation.

Negotiations on international oil prices naturally fell to the ambassador stationed in Britain and the chief steward of the European royal family.

Britain and Australasia could certainly set related oil price standards and control the rise and fall of oil prices through the oil along the Persian Gulf coast they controlled.

Furthermore, if certain speculations were made, oil prices could rise at an exaggerated pace several times over, and profits would similarly multiply.

How to operate would depend on the negotiation results between the two countries. After all, oil prices also concern the domestic people’s livelihood; blatantly speculating on oil would depend on whether the civilian population agrees or not.

Based on current international oil prices, the price of each barrel of crude oil is around 5.7 Australian dollars. At the peak of the World War era, the price of crude oil once rose to about 3.4 pounds per barrel, which is approximately 6.8 Australian dollars.

However, the currency has been devalued now, and although it seems that current crude oil prices are nearing those at the peak of the World War, in reality, they are less than half of that time.

According to Arthur’s estimate, if negotiations with the British go smoothly, the price of crude oil could be raised to between 6 and 7 Australian dollars.

Do not underestimate this raise of 1 or 2 Australian dollars, as it could lead to profits of millions or even tens of millions of Australian dollars.

After all, the export figures of crude oil are not a small number; the consumption of crude oil by any country, when totaled, is definitely a staggering number, and so is the potential increase.