A Spy by Nature - Charles Cumming [53]
‘Only to an extent,’ Cohen says, quick to contradict me. ‘A lot of British and European oil companies are in joint ventures with the Americans to minimize risk. Take Abnex, for example.’ Here comes the PR line. ‘We got in at about the same time as Chevron in 1993.’
‘Did you?’ says Peppiatt. ‘I didn’t realize that.’
Cohen nods proudly.
‘It’s true,’ he says.
There is a brief lull while Peppiatt gathers his thoughts.
‘Well, you see that in itself will be interesting for my readers. I mean are all these joint ventures between the multinational oil conglomerates going to make millions for their shareholders in five or ten years’ time, or are they all on a hiding to nothing?’
‘Let’s hope not,’ says Cohen, giving Peppiatt a chummy smile. It’s sickening how much he wants to impress him.
‘You know what I think you should write about?’ I say to him.
‘What’s that?’ he replies briskly.
‘Leadership. The absence of decent men.’
‘In what respect?’
‘In respect of the increasing gap between rich and poor. If there aren’t the right kind of politicians operating down there, men who care more about the future of their country than they do about their own comfort and prestige, nothing will happen. Look what happened to Venezuela, Ecuador, Nigeria.’
‘And what happened to them?’ Peppiatt asks, his brow furrowing. I’ve found a gap in his knowledge and he doesn’t like that.
‘Their economies were crippled by oil booms in the 1970s. Agriculture, manufacturing and investments were all unbalanced by the vast amounts of money being generated by oil revenues in a single sector of the economy. Other industries couldn’t keep up. There was no one in power who foresaw that. The governments in the Caspian are going to have to watch out. Otherwise, for every oil tycoon fucking a call-girl in the back of his chauffeur-driven Mercedes, there’ll be a hundred Armenian farmers struggling to make enough money to buy a loaf of bread. And that’s how wars start.’
‘I think that’s a bit melodramatic, Alec,’ Cohen says, again smiling at Peppiatt, again trying to put a positive spin on things. ‘There’s not going to be a war in the Caspian. There’s going to be an oil boom for sure, but no one is going to get killed in the process.’
‘Can I quote you on that?’ Peppiatt asks.
Cohen’s eyes withdraw into calculation. That is what he wants most of all. His name in the papers, a little mention in Lex.
‘Of course,’ he says. ‘Of course you can quote me. But let me tell you a little bit about what our company is doing down there.’
Saul catches my eye, but I can’t tell whether or not he’s bored.
‘Fine,’ says Peppiatt.
Cohen takes a step back.
‘Tell you what,’ he says, suddenly looking at me. ‘Why don’t you tell him, Alec? You could explain things just as effectively as me.’
‘All right,’ I reply, slightly off balance. ‘But it’s quite straightforward. Abnex is currently conducting two-dimensional seismic surveys in several of Kazakhstan’s one hundred and fifty unexplored offshore blocks. It’s one of our biggest projects. Some of this is being done in conjunction with our so-called competitors, as a joint venture, and some of it is being done independently, without any external assistance. I can have details faxed to you tomorrow morning, if you like. What we want to do is start drilling exploration wells in two to three years’ time if evidence of oil is found. We have sole exploration rights to six fields, thanks to the Well Workover Agreements negotiated by Clive Hargreaves, and we’re very hopeful of finding something down there.’
‘I see.’ This may be too technical for Peppiatt. ‘That’s a long and expensive business, I take it?’
‘Sure. Particularly when you don’t know what you’re going to find at the end of the rainbow.’
‘That’s just it, isn’t it?’ says Peppiatt, with something approaching glee. ‘The truth is you boys don’t know what you’ve got down there. Nobody does.’
And Saul says:
‘Print that.’
12
My Fellow Americans
This is when I see her for the first time, standing just a few metres away through a narrow break in the crowd. A sudden glimpse