Real Man

Chapter 673

At that moment, a report was in progress in the president’s office of Enertex.

Jack Cruji, who had heard from Joseph Kail where Yoo-hyun was visiting, grumbled.

“John Henry, that bastard, will make a fuss again.”

“We’ve taken care of the funding issue this time, so he won’t have much to say.”

“No. He’s a stingy guy, so he’ll complain for sure. Anyway, why did Steve go to such a worthless place? What does he have to see there?”

John Henry, the president of Henry Resources, was a thorn in his eye.

He had planned to crush him properly this time, but Yoo-hyun’s appearance changed everything.

On top of that, Jeong Da-hye stepped in and messed things up.

“You know how meticulous Ellis is, don’t you? He seems to want to look around all the cooperatives involved in the shale oil project.”

“That’s why we shouldn’t have left it to Ellis…”

Jack Cruji, who shook his head, asked Joseph Kail quietly.

“Mr. President, what about the consulting project?”

“What do you mean, what about it? We have to finish it as it is. It’s better to get rid of Ellis sooner rather than later.”

“Then the deal with Tony will be at stake. He’ll surely bring it up.”

Jack Cruji put his hand on his forehead at the mention of the name Tony Cohen.

“Ah! Tony was there.”

His face was full of trouble.

Meanwhile, Yoo-hyun, who had sent Jeong Da-hye first, had a brief call with Willy Thompson.

Willy Thompson gave a positive answer after hearing Yoo-hyun’s explanation.

-Henry Resources is a good company. It’s small in scale, but it’s a company that has accumulated technology in this area for over 10 years. However, its profitability is not very good lately.

“I was going to take a look around. I’m thinking of putting it on the investment list if it’s okay.”

-Not a bad idea. You might notice something I missed on the spot.

Willy Thompson readily agreed to Yoo-hyun’s changed plan.

It was a decision that a consultant with a strong pride would not easily make.

That showed how open-minded Willy Thompson was.

“Thank you for understanding.”

-Understanding? You’re the leader of this project. Oh, I got some information about Tony Cohen.

“How is he?”

-He seems to have noticed the situation to some extent. He’ll probably make a move soon.

Tony Cohen.

He was the vice president of Sprint Company.

He was also the person who leaked the internal secrets and trapped Jeong Da-hye.

Yoo-hyun’s eyes sank as he recalled his face.

“What about Jack Cruji’s reaction?”

-He’ll have no choice but to follow us for now.

“In the end, both sides will clash.”

-Not just clash, but make a proper collision. There will be some plausible spoils in the midst of fighting.

Willy Thompson was so kind that he forgot, but he was a person who had rolled around in this field.

He knew how to bite the prey in front of him.

Yoo-hyun’s lips curled up at his cold judgment.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

-Don’t worry and go around comfortably. I’ll take good care of things here.

“Your words are reassuring. Thank you.”

Yoo-hyun hung up the phone and looked up.

A tall drilling rig was looking down at him.

Thump thump.

Yoo-hyun followed his steps and entered the factory site of Henry Resources.

There were large water tanks lined up on one side, and trucks were parked on the other side.

It looked similar to the drilling plant he had seen at other shale oil sites, but the scale was only half as big.

The size of the drilling rig and other equipment itself felt small.

As Yoo-hyun entered the entrance, a man with a large body and black skin appeared.

“Nice to meet you, Steve. I’m Thomas Popper.”

Yoo-hyun checked the name tag on the man’s chest and looked at his outfit.

He was the only one wearing Enertex manager’s clothes here.

Nod.

He bowed his body carefully after receiving Yoo-hyun’s eye greeting, and put his phone to his ear.

He seemed to be reporting to Jack Cruji.

Yoo-hyun passed him and approached Jeong Da-hye, who was having a conversation.

She raised her hand as soon as she saw Yoo-hyun.

“Steve, over here.”

Then she introduced Yoo-hyun to the man she was facing.

“Mr. President, this is the investor, Steve Han.”

“I know. I saw him last time.”

The white man with a striking white beard scanned Yoo-hyun.

“Yes. Steve, this is the president here, John Henry. He’s a veteran who’s been working here for over 10 years, as I told you.”

Yoo-hyun reached out his hand after receiving Jeong Da-hye’s introduction.

Wrinkles appeared around Yoo-hyun’s eyes under the safety helmet.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Steve Han.”

“Oh, yes. Nice to meet you. But my hands are covered with oil.”

“That’s okay.”

Yoo-hyun grabbed John Henry’s hand, who was embarrassed.

John Henry looked at Jeong Da-hye and shrugged his shoulders.

“He’s not picky for a rich guy.”

“He knows better than to be picky, or he’ll get scolded by you, Mr. President.”

Jeong Da-hye joked, and John Henry let go of Yoo-hyun’s hand and grumbled.

“Come on. I know what I’m doing. Who knows better than me how miserable it is to be without money in this field?”

“Didn’t Enertex agree to support the funds? Isn’t that better?”

“What are you talking about? Half of the employees are still on leave because of them. If we can’t meet the profitability in this situation, more pressure will come in. Look over there. The monitor is still there.”

John Henry pointed to Thomas Popper, who was standing with a sullen expression.

He looked like he was watching the situation here.

Jeong Da-hye glanced at him and answered.

“If everything goes according to plan, we can achieve the target with this drilling. I’ll check the progress for you.”

“Here you go again. What do you know, a pen pusher. Tsk tsk.”

“Why don’t we have another knowledge battle about the history of shale oil?”

John Henry waved his hand as if he had lost to Jeong Da-hye’s provocation.

“Fine, fine. Just go around as you please. I’m too busy to care.”

“Yes. I got it. Steve, let’s go. I’ll show you around.”

Jeong Da-hye smiled and pulled Yoo-hyun inside.

Yoo-hyun found her friendly appearance new.

She was quite different from the one he knew before.

“You two seem to be close.”

“We’ve been through a lot together.”

“What do you have to struggle with here, Ms. Da-hye?”

“Well, you know, this and that. I need to know the technology to do proper consulting.”

“Really?”

What kind of thing would make a consultant from another company get along with the people from the partner company?

Yoo-hyun was curious as he saw Jeong Da-hye apologize to him.

“Mr. Yoo, just a moment.”

She then shouted towards the two-story booth in front of her.

“Craig!”

“What, Ellis?”

A man stuck out his big and round face from the window of the box-shaped booth.

Jeong Da-hye cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled.

“I’m going up for a bit! A precious guest is here!”

“Since when did you ask for permission? Do whatever you want.”

“Okay. Mr. Yoo, follow me.”

Jeong Da-hye gestured to Yoo-hyun and went up the narrow stairs first.

What’s going on?

Yoo-hyun felt more and more amazed by the relationship between Jeong Da-hye and the people here.

As he climbed up to the second floor, he saw the scene inside the spacious booth.

There were countless buttons and indicators in front of the control seat.

Craig Corbett, who was sitting on the chair, ignored Yoo-hyun and moved the stick with his thick hand.

The screen next to the control seat showed the movement of the drill.

It looked like he was playing a game, but it was a real situation.

Drdrdrdrd!

The ground shook with a loud noise.

The drill on the screen went down vertically and then started to move horizontally.

Jeong Da-hye explained the progress.

“This place, as you can see, is in charge of the whole drilling process. Right now, we are drilling vertically down to 3,200 meters below the oil reservoir, and then piercing a pipe horizontally. Soon, from here…”

Yoo-hyun looked around as he listened to her explanation.

It looked like a simple container box from the outside, but it was cutting-edge inside.

All the movements of the equipment were displayed on various screens attached to it.

It was amazing how they managed to do this.

Yoo-hyun pointed to the large screen on the right wall and asked.

“But what are those black and white faces and dots?”

“The faces represent the oil reservoir blocks spaced 3 cubic meters apart. EnerTex has secured some of the oil reservoirs, and Heinley Resources is in charge of some of them. The parts with darker borders are Heinley Resources’ blocks.”

“I guess the dots are the drills.”

“Yes. The key here is, how much oil can you drill from the reservoirs in the block. To do this well, you need to find the exact location and move quickly after you finish.”

“You can move after you finish?”

“Of course. You can’t just leave all these equipment behind. You take them with you. How do you do that…”

When the drilling was done, not only the water tank and the pipeline, but also the huge drill moved.

For this, four monstrous iron legs were placed at the bottom of the drill.

Thanks to this, their equipment reuse rate was much higher than other companies.

It was a pursuit of extreme efficiency.

Jeong Da-hye emphasized this part further.

“It’s not just the speed of movement. There is a 10-year know-how in finding the optimal point between the reservoirs, considering the movement routes. We are trying to automate this part, and we are almost there.”

“Then the productivity will increase even more.”

“That’s what will happen. And if the pipeline is connected, the transportation cost will be reduced, and the productivity will be even higher.”

Jeong Da-hye had a confident look in her eyes.

Yoo-hyun had a question at this point.

“But why was Heinley Resources’ productivity not good recently? If they have this level of technology, they should have been better than other companies.”

“That’s…”

Jeong Da-hye was about to answer when it happened.

Beep.

Craig Corbett, who pressed the button, shouted into the microphone.

“Horizontal drilling completed! We will start hydraulic fracturing now!”

The drill that had been digging the ground was out, and a pipe was planted inside.

John Heinley made a big circle with his arm and gave an okay sign.

Seeing that, Jeong Da-hye whispered to Yoo-hyun.

“This is the most important scene. The hydraulic fracturing method is the most difficult and has a high failure rate. I wanted to show you this process.”

“I need to focus then.”

Yoo-hyun had already heard the theory of hydraulic fracturing.

First, you push water mixed with soil into the pipe that goes deep into the ground and bends horizontally, using strong pressure.

Next, you inject a solvent into the water and spray it through the hole at the end of the pipe.

The solvent dissolves the oil trapped in the shale layer, and it seeps back through the hole.

It sounds easy, but this has to be done 3,200 meters underground.

It was hard to withstand the pressure with a thin and long pipe, and it was not easy to fracture the right point.

The difficult process unfolded on the screen of the control seat.

Shoo!

Water was drawn from the large water tank and flowed into the pipe.

The water went down the pipe 3,200 meters below and then turned horizontally.

When the water reached the end of the pipe, the next step was to inject the solvent.

Jeong Da-hye, who was watching with a tense expression, added an explanation.

“The solvent is so toxic that it can melt the rock. If you inject it wrong, the groundwater under this land will be contaminated.”

“How do you know if it’s injected well?”

“You just have to check the pressure of the pipe that bends in. The optimal level will be shown on the screen.”

As Jeong Da-hye explained, water mixed with sand flowed into the end of the pipe on the screen.

Various information collected from several sensors was displayed on the screen.

This included the pressure of the water tank and the pump equipment.

It was a combination of traditional drilling technology and advanced sensors.

Who came up with this idea?

It was amazing to apply this in a conservative place like the oil industry.

And this was a small company.

It must not have been easy to change the existing equipment.

Yoo-hyun thought he would ask after the work was done.