Maria was more than pleasantly surprised with the lease of pod. She wasn’t much of an expert of real estate or anything relating to economic matters but she knew an opportunity when she saw one. And in her case it was a way for her to pay back some of the political debt she owed to Mihail Umarov of the Umarov Real Estate Trust(
URET) if she could somehow convince the Samantran government to sublease it to the URET. Such a piece of real estate, even rented, was something that URET would love to have in their real estate portfolio.
Stas on the other hand started exploring the pod and already started imagining how the pod could be used to further Samantra’s business interests. He had a corporate background and knew the great potential of the Seleucid market. If Samantran businesses played their cards well there could be lots of business opportunities to be made in Royal Seleucid he figured.
OOC: I hope I am not breaking any rules but I am RPing with the assumption that Samantra is already importing oil from Royal Seleucid but that no formal agreement was ever signed and the trades never involved either governments.
Maria greatly appreciated that King Heydar welcomed them personally at the Palace and that he helped her get out of the helicopter. Such signs of gallantry where greatly appreciated by Samantran women.
Once she was seated along with the rest of the Samantran delegation she replied:
“Thank you for being such great host. Mr. Seyed Jamshidi has been a great guide in showing us what is being described as the “New Ipsus” as well as explaining the massive investments done not just in the real estate but also in the infrastructure. It impressive how much care and thought has been given to the long term planning of the area” Maria exaggerated a bit the role of Seyed Jamshidi with the hope of earning some bonus points with him. She figured that if the talks went well today having a cabinet minister that is sympathetic never hurts even if she knew that the executive power rested with King Heydar.
Stas intervened “And thank you Your Majesty for the wonderful opportunity with the pod. I can assure you that many Samantran companies will be interested to have a presence there.
As for the floor of the Rus’ tower, I am glad it is to your liking Your Majesty. While there has been perhaps not much formal contact between our governments our two nations have definitely cooperated in matters such as trade. The Emirate is a major supplier of oil and gas to Samantra and the gift is a also symbolic in that regard since it gives you a place in Samantra’s financial heart.
Your gigafactory could find a market in Samantra. Our economy has been mostly dezindustrialized and moved to mostly services but one of the industries that have survived and prospered is the automotive industry. Our auto industry has been slow to embrace the change to electric vehicles and that could be an opportunity for the giga factory since our industry has not entered in any partnership for batteries that I know of. “
Stas was amused at Maria’s predicament. He knew full how much she loved anything to do with jewelry and gemstones but at the same time he knew she couldn’t accept. So when Maria declined saying that it will be used to embellish one of Samantra’s great cathedrals he knew full how hard was for her to say it. He also was not surprised that she was quick to agree that she will visit the craftsmen during the festival, no doubt with the hope that in an informal setting she could take advantage of a deal by using her position as Minister of Extern Affairs. Back in the day Stas was a corporate lobby in Petrograd while Maria was mayor and she knew full well the greed the woman had.
Stas continued and addressed the oil issue which was one of the key points of the meeting as far as Samantra was concerned:
“Your majesty, right now about a third our oil comes from OPEN countries and of that OPEN oil Royal Seleucid, Clysperis and Tamora have about an equal share. There are no formal government agreements for oil so far and everything that was done did not involve the Samantran government. We would like to change in light of recent concerns. We are looking to reduce our dependence on Tamoran oil since the country has international sanctions and has recently entered a period of isolation. Secondly, the geopolitics of MidAranye are beginning to worry us. The Kingdom of Clyperis seems to be entering the sphere of influence of the not so holy Empire of Achkaerin, a country with which he have no good relations. We will try to see if we can reach some sort of an agreement with the Clysperi that will address our concerns but the energy security is paramount for us. No matter what happens the oil must flow to Samantra. So thirst we want from Your Majesty the guarantee that your Emirate will continue to supply us with oil and gas regardless of any political turbulences that might appear such as the recent sanctions placed on us by the Rokkenjimans (and the cancelled).
The second issue point we would like to discuss is a total exclusion of any payments for oil and gas in the currencies of Achkaerin and Rokkenjima. We do not trust their governments and we do not want anything to do with their financial system. I naturally propose that you accept our currency, the rouble, in exchange for oil and gas. We have a solid financial system, we are an important customer for oil and gas and we are a country that has no contentions with Midaranye. Of course we are flexible and we can discuss other means of payment.”
Stas realized he may have talked too much without answering the information request of King Heydar:
“I think I may have skipped telling you the details of Samantra’s oil trade. Our country consumes 6 million barrels per day and all of it is imported. So that means roughly 2 million per day comes from non OPEN countries and 4 million comes from OPEN with Royal Seleucid, Tamora and Clysperis each accounting for roughly 1.3 million barrels per day. That means every year we pay just for oil about 47 billion roubles/USD to the Emirate alone (ooc: assuming the price is 100 USD per barrel, you guys decide what the price is, I am not OPEN) every year. I thank that makes us a good customer I would say.”