Petroleum refinement on the rise
February 5381
Sholemberg, Beiteynu - It's been more than 100 years since companies like Hadayim, Birco and the now defunct Sholemberg Sealines got in bed with petroleum producers from the northern, coldest states of Keris. Yup, there's only one notorious name that pops up: Neftkomp [Trigunia]. You have not been thinking about it, we have not been thinking about it; they have been thinking about it since the backchannel dealings of 5341, which saw a whopping 50% of maritime distribution struck by Hadayim, rumoured to have been renegotiated to 25%, probably in yet another smokey backroom.
Mind you, the deal was sealed in fate during the 40s and 50s, when international sanctions against Trigunia placed the final nail in the coffin of any economic prospects, which led many to presume that the 5340 diplomatic visit was basically a front for the groundbreaking deal to take place a year later.
The shipping industry's insatiable thirst for oil and gas dates back all the way to 5241, when it bought 3% of KNOC's preferred shares.
The signs were there since 5273, when the first maritime distribution deal was struck with Trigunia on grounds of extended investments in the Trigunian economy; a decision which led to the beginning of an unparalleled commercial boom of Kundrati's shipyards and naval manufacturing a few years later. After that point, shipping and petroleum refinement went hand in hand; the former grew so large it started tax evading in Solentia since 5284, it got caught in questionable relations in 5285, it was largely considered the one most heavily lobbying towards the 5288 historic agreements and Beiteynu's ridiculous naval expansions since then - shooting Hadayim to the top just 5 years later; oil and gas deals passed to the backstage of affairs when Trigunia entered into a crisis in 5311, which led to the collapse of Sholemberg Sealines the same year, until the manufacturing sector picked up the pace in 5320 as a result of the alliance with Eroncourt; a secondary industry that brought petroleum refinement momentum in Beiteynu back on the shipping industry's radar.
In the meantime of all of that, the silence was stirred by scandals, tax evasion and the ridiculous 5331 1.75B LOD fine that essentially left Hadayim unscathed, as it was already too late to control an industry that had became such a behemoth it's now the single most dominant pillar of global Beiteynuese commerce.
And its aggressiveness has been steadily driving the rise of petroleum refinement.
The industry's scene and status
Petroleum refinement has been a child's toy comparatively speaking to Beiteynu's dominant industries. Largely limited in the North Bank and specifically in Sholemberg, local companies closely associated with the Ministry of Trade & Industry have been producing "just enough" of a volume of petroleum products; mostly to cover the needs of manufacturing in Amshinov and, of course, the defence industry. Demand has grown in the last few decades as Luthorian computer hardware and consumer electronics companies have struck various deals with Beiteynuese software agencies, skyrocketing demand domestically and abroad.
The idea of joint investments in petroleum refinement date back to 5286, when the Beiteynuese financial industry joined up with Neftkomp and the likes of Hadayim to pump cashloads into Trigunia; the idea even took off on the Majatran end, with plans to expand the industry in Sholemberg in 5290. Both companies have been looking to leverage each other to expand into new markets, with Hadayim, Birco and Petrik Hadayot - the shipping industry's titans - looking to transfer more and more oil and gas around the world, and Neftkomp seeking to renew and expand its foothold across that same world.
A semi-nationalised industry
To ensure long-term stability both in terms of the investment's risk factors and the sustainability of the industry itself in the face of geopolitical changes, Hadayim has been lobbying the Beiteynuese Government to partake with a 49% stake over the course of the next decade. The company has been in talks with the Bureau of Keshef Management to coordinate the necessary capital from the Ministry of Finance, as well as the Olami Trade Association in order to place an ironclad contract with the private sector, with the remaining 51% of ownership of the new refineries to be split 70-30 between the shipping industry's mightiest 2 [Hadayim and Birco] and Neftkomp itself. The move has caused strife with Majatran oil producers, seeing a Trigunian company indirectly establish a foothold in Majatra.
The expansions are set to take place over the course of the decade, with the shipping industry, and Neftkomp, remaining highly involved in the dealings to ensure that these investments drive the need for both production and distribution of oil and gas globally, higher.
