What happened in Egypt, Franz naturally did not know, such a trivial matter, and the emperor did not need to ask about it personally.

In recent times, the Austrian economy has been doing well, with the exception of a sluggish outlook for agriculture.

If nothing else, it will be able to return to its pre-crisis peak by the end of the year.

Looking at the latest economic report, Franz breathed a sigh of relief. The Near East development plan, in essence, is smashed out of money, and there is no return at all in the short term.

In order to raise funds, the Vienna government has successively issued 500 million Aegis construction bonds, and the interest expense of the funds is as high as 1.86 million every month.

This is just the beginning, and the government's debt will continue to increase in the coming days as the Near East development plan continues.

Coupled with the old debt, Franz was surprised to find that the total government debt exceeded that of the Russians, which was just around the corner.

"Where has the development of oil fields in Iraq progressed?"

There is no way, and the project that will pay off in the near East in the short term is the oil field discovered by Iraq.

There are so many oil fields in the Middle East, and Franz can't figure out which one of them is in later generations.

This is all a small problem, anyway, if you find it first, you will mine it first, and if you find it later, you will mine it later, and the oil will not be able to run away when it is buried in the ground.

Prime Minister Karl replied: "The extraction equipment has been installed and the pipeline is currently being erected, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

It is expected that within one year after the start of production, the oil in Iraq will be enough to meet domestic demand.

In order to cut costs, Austrian oil companies are already considering shutting down some of the country's small oil fields to reduce the cost of crude oil extraction. ”

There is no doubt that if you look at the construction period, you can see that the oil pipeline was not laid directly to Austria, but to the valley of the two rivers, and then transported into the Persian Gulf by small boats, and then transported back to Austria by tankers.

Although the Vienna government allows individuals to exploit oil, the mega oil fields discovered by the government in Iraq are still the domain of state-owned enterprises.

Since the Second Industrial Revolution, Austria's demand for oil has been increasing day by day. Even in times of economic crisis, it has maintained double-digit growth rates.

By 1884, Austria's oil consumption had reached an unprecedented 15,864,500 barrels per year.

This figure is not worth mentioning in later generations. It's about the same as the consumption of some large countries in a day, but in this era, it is completely record-breaking.

Affected by the sharp increase in Austria's demand for oil, international oil prices have climbed to an all-time high of 5.6 Aegis per barrel.

The price of crude oil of the same weight actually exceeds the price of grain. The high value has made the originally inconspicuous oil become "black gold".

If that's all there is to it, then oil is still a niche commodity. After all, Austria consumes more oil than all other countries combined.

The entire crude oil market is only more than 100 million Aegis, and the total international crude oil trade is only a pitiful 20 or 30 million Aegis, of which the Russians account for half.

The real reason for this optimism is the rate of growth in oil demand.

From 1884 to 1885, Austria's oil demand increased by 23.3 per cent, and with that the global demand for oil by 15.4 per cent.

The market growth is due to a number of reasons, the first of which is the advent of diesel generators, which are smaller, portable, and easy to operate than coal, although the cost of generating electricity is higher.

Mankind has just entered the age of electricity, and even Austria, which has the most developed power industry, is inevitably subject to power outages.

Ordinary people just endure it, anyway, the gas lamps that have just been eliminated are not unusable. Even if you have lost it, you can still light a candle.

But the factory can't do it, you can't stop work without power, right?

In this context, diesel generators with independent power generation capacity have become a necessity for many factories.

Not only factories, but also nobles and capitalists are always at home. Including Franz, the Vienna Palace cannot guarantee no power outages.

It seems to be an inconspicuous small machine, but in fact it has become a large fuel guzzler, and the growth rate is still very rapid.

This was followed by the tractor, which has been unstoppable ever since the world's first internal combustion engine-powered tractor was introduced in Vienna in 1880.

In just five years, the new tractor has been updated twice, and its performance has been greatly improved.

With the advantages of light weight and easy operation, it quickly beat the competitor steam tractor and began to be popularized in industrial and agricultural production.

To date, there are more than 150,000 tractors in Austria, 67 percent of which are powered by internal combustion engines.

This is just the beginning, as the demand for tractors is increasing day by day as the Near East development program progresses.

If it weren't for the limited production capacity, it is estimated that the number of tractors in Austria would have exceeded the 200,000 mark.

Manufacturers are expanding their production capacities, and in a year or two at most, Austria will surpass this figure in the country.

Not to mention all kinds of engineering equipment, they are all oil tigers anyway.

In contrast, family cars are only pediatric. After all, this is only the patent of a few wealthy people, and it has not yet been popularized nationwide.

As things stand, Franz's five-year doubling of fuel consumption is actually a bit too conservative.

After all, the oil industry has only just started, and before the second industrial revolution, the main role of oil was mainly oil lamp lighting.

The market is limited, and the demand will naturally not go up. The base is small, and the growth rate is naturally fast.

As a result, a small upsurge in the search for oil has erupted around the world.

But all this will end soon. As long as Iraq's oil is developed, the situation in which the international supply of crude oil exceeds demand will be fundamentally improved.

As for the rest of the region, Franz is not ready to start for the time being. Once the outside world discovers that the Middle East is full of oil, not to mention hatred, it will also lead to a decline in oil prices.

From the very beginning of the Near East Development Program, Franz made up his mind to use the dividends from oil extraction to compensate for the government's financial investment.

"The government must pay close attention to this work. As things stand, domestic crude oil consumption will double in the next four years.

The oil fields in Iraq will soon become an important source of revenue for the government. Relying on this oil field, it is not a problem to support the interest in the development plan of the Near East. ”

There is nothing wrong with it, it is the interest on the funds. If you want to support the principal investment, this is not something that can be done in a short time.

No matter how high the profits of oil extraction are, the scale of the market is there, which directly locks the profit ceiling.

The growth rate seems to be fast, but this growth rate is unlikely to be sustainable, and the growth rate will gradually decline as the total base increases.

Austria's oil demand could double in four years, but it would be difficult to double in eight years on the same level as it would be in four years.

Moreover, this kind of finance, which is heavily dependent on resources, is not what Franz wants.

From the very beginning, he was determined to limit oil production capacity, and in the case of domestic demand, a small amount of exports would be enough.

Well, it's also a means of striking at competitors. Raise international oil prices and delay the development of the oil industry in Britain and France by relying on high costs.