African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 603 Energy Issues

What Ernst said is a general development path, which will definitely change according to the situation in East Africa. In fact, regarding the development of the automobile industry, a new issue cannot be avoided, and that is highway construction.

Now that cars have appeared, road construction in East Africa must be put on the agenda. In the past, many roads were built in East Africa, especially in the east, and the road density is comparable to that of some European countries.

 But the standards of these roads are very low, including gravel roads, dirt roads, cinder-paved roads, brick roads, or cement roads.

More than 80% of the wilderness and countryside in East Africa are dirt roads, some of which have been compacted. There are cinder roads and a small amount of gravel roads in the villages near industrial areas.

 Cities are mostly dominated by masonry roads, including slate roads. There are usually cement roads in industrial zones, and there are also dirt roads in cities with average economic levels. Especially in some cities in the west, infrastructure is very lacking.

However, the east is not necessarily much better. Although the road quality in the east is better than the European average, the current road conditions in Europe are difficult to describe, and everyone is just the same.

Now that cars have appeared, the road pattern around the world must also change to meet the future development of the automobile industry.

According to Ernst himself, the high degree of compatibility between hardened road surfaces and rubber tires is also a major driving force for highway development. The two complement each other and are indispensable. If classical wooden tires or iron tires are pressed against hardened road surfaces, Ernst couldn't bear the noise just thinking about it.

Although hardened pavement is the future development trend, Ernst is not in a hurry to implement it in East Africa immediately. On the one hand, the amount of projects in East Africa is too large and many water conservancy facilities are in the hiring stage. On the other hand, it takes time to prepare.

 In addition to roads, the most important thing that East Africa should solve is the fuel problem, and the local oil industry in East Africa should also be put on the agenda.

  No matter what, some local oil resources should be developed to suppress the price of imported oil. Think carefully about the oil-producing areas in Africa in the previous life.

Ernst plans to explore and develop the oil and gas resources of Lake Turkana first, which is a process of thinking and solving problems based on the answers.

The oil resources in Lake Turkana are not large, but quite small. There are at least several hundred million barrels of reserves. This amount of oil will definitely not be enough for future generations, but in this era it is definitely enough for East Africa's early use.

During the First World War, Romania's oil production was only between 700 and 10 million tons per year. This was the situation when production capacity exploded during the war. Therefore, the oil in Lake Turkana, combined with imported oil, was enough for East Africa at least 40 to 50 million tons in the early stage. years of use.

There are only a few oil-producing countries now, and the output is pitifully small, so there is no need for East Africa to directly use the oil from Uganda or South Sudan for development.

In fact, East Africa has signed many supply agreements with oil giants such as Rockefeller in the United States. In Romania, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Tsarist Russia, the European oil industry has been directly deployed to cultivate professional workers and technicians needed in East Africa.

However, these measures only address the symptoms rather than the root cause. East Africa’s overall oil resources are not scarce, but they are not abundant either. If we want to ensure East Africa’s energy security, Angola must find a way to win them all in the future, especially the Luanda region north of the Congo River. .

If the Luanda region can be captured, the oil reserves in East Africa will be considerable even in the 21st century. The oil resources potential in eastern East Africa is also great, and it will be sufficient for early development.

 Africa's oil reserves are above average among all continents, and are still mainly distributed in the northern region, especially North Africa and West Africa, which is not friendly to East Africa today. East Africa's oil resources are also concentrated in the northern zone, including the Nile Basin and the east. As for northern Angola, it is currently under the control of the Portuguese.

In addition to the above-mentioned oil resources within easy reach of East Africa, there is also Alaska, which is considered a royal industry. However, the Alaska region is isolated overseas. Ernst does not want it to develop too early. If the gold mines and oil resources in Alaska are discovered, then It is very likely to attract the covetous attention of Japan, Tsarist Russia, Canada (UK) and the United States.

To put it bluntly, the Far Eastern Empire is currently weak, otherwise it would be counted among them. There are not many small countries in the entire North Pacific region except Southeast Asia.

 So until East Africa can provide military security support to Alaska, it is better for the Alaska region to continue to develop in a low-key manner.

It is not easy to develop the oil resources in Lake Turkana. Although Ernst is sure that there are oil resources in Lake Turkana, it is hard to say whether it can be done technically.

However, according to Ernst's idea, the difficulty should not be particularly high. Romanian oil is on the coast of the Black Sea, and although Lake Turkana is only a saltwater lake, its area is not small. There should still be similarities between the two.

 So it is now possible to explore the resources of Lake Turkana. Top experts must be invited to implement this aspect, and it is best to be closely integrated with the national defense and security of East Africa.

At the same time, Ernst also thought of Germany's coal-to-oil technology during World War II. This is also a good idea. East Africa is quite rich in coal resources, especially South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. The latter two countries are rich in coal mines. Although it is not at the level of South Africa, it is still considerable.

  After all, in the previous life, South Africa's coal resources could compete with Australia, Russia, India, Brazil, etc. in the international market.

There are also biofuels in later generations. Although the corn production in East Africa is far less than that in the United States, the planting area is not small, so both directions can be considered.

Thinking of this, Ernst also thought of the abundant natural gas resources in East Africa. Natural gas can replace oil resources to a certain extent. Moreover, natural gas resources are quite abundant in East Africa and are not scarce in East Africa. There are a large number of natural gas resources distributed including in the east.

ˆBased on past experience, natural gas is particularly focused on the two fields of household fuel and industrial production. Although its role in the transportation field is not as large as that of oil, it well complements the application of oil in other fields.

The most important thing is that natural gas is a clean energy source and can also play a very good role in environmental protection. Therefore, East Africa should pay attention to the development and utilization of natural gas resources. As time goes by, natural gas, a clean energy source, has received more attention.

The last thing is nuclear energy. It may be too early to talk about the use of nuclear energy now, and even Ernst is not sure whether he can survive until that time.

 However, East Africa has obvious advantages in this regard, and Ernst has even had a rough idea of ​​the future layout of the nuclear energy industry in East Africa.

That is to put it in Southwest Africa. Firstly, Southwest Africa is vast and sparsely populated. Even if an accident occurs, it will not have much impact on East Africa. At worst, the waste will be discharged directly into the Atlantic Ocean like the UK. East Africa mainly relies on the Indian Ocean, so this can be done Learn from the three scoundrels of later generations, Britain, the United States and Japan. The second is that Southwest Africa is originally an important uranium mining area in the world. Some rivers even contain radioactive elements eroded from the upper reaches of the mountains. The third is that Southwest Africa is conducive to the layout of the National Defense and Security Agency and is secretive. Strong, it is difficult for a situation like the bombing of a German nuclear plant in World War II to happen in East Africa.

 (End of this chapter)