Little Trick

After returning to the company, Xu Tiande immediately called Ma Yuan into his office and then briefed him on a series of subsequent matters.

As soon as he heard the instructions, Ma Yuan reacted as if his tail had been stepped on, his face filled with disbelief.

"What?"

"Professor Xu, you want me to follow Liu Shang's orders throughout the entire process?"

"You want me to follow the lead of a freshman who hasn't even been to the site?"

"Aren't you afraid he'll mess things up on-site if he does whatever he wants?!!!"

Xu Tiande had long anticipated Ma Yuan's reaction, so he emphasized it once more, very seriously.

"Ma Yuan, it's not just you; even we will be following Liu Shang's instructions for the construction of this well."

"As for any problems that arise on-site, we will be there. You won't have to bear the responsibility."

"Of course, you need to keep a close eye on things here as well. If any abnormal data appears, report it to us promptly."

Seeing Xu Tiande's firm stance, Ma Yuan had nothing more to say and left his office with a heart full of indignation.

In his mind, he couldn't stop complaining: This kid Liu Shang, ever since he came to the company, nothing has gone smoothly for me!

Damn it, you're about to be fired, and you're still causing trouble for me before you leave, aren't you?

Hmph, you want to boss me around? You must be dreaming! I'll show you how I'll teach you a lesson during the construction!

Meanwhile, at the outdoor site, during dinner, Liu Shang casually briefed his team members on the work while chatting and laughing.

"Old Wang, I believe Manager Xu and Manager Zhong also told you when they visited yesterday that I am fully responsible for the construction of this well."

"For this well, we will be injecting polymer gel at medium and low concentrations throughout, and we won't use a single bit of swelling particles."

"So, compared to previous wells, your workload for this well will be much lighter."

"Once we start, I expect everyone to cooperate well and complete this well smoothly."

"I guarantee that all problems and responsibilities will be handled and borne by me. You just need to report them to me."

"If there are any issues from the company's side, you don't need to solve them yourselves; just let me know."

With Manager Zhong and Xu Tiande having paved the way beforehand, everyone naturally nodded in agreement to Liu Shang's words.

After all, being able to reduce their workload significantly was something they were happy about.

For Liu Shang, the technical approach for this well was very clear and simple: stable, continuous injection of medium to low concentration polymer gel, which is akin to the mechanism of the emerging polymer flooding technology.

It would be quite easy to observe the dynamic reactions between oil and water wells, or even achieve increased oil production through the measure.

The fact that previous wells constructed by the company had no effect couldn't be attributed to Xu Tiande and Manager Zhong's lack of technical skill.

It could only be said that at the current stage of oil technology development, almost everyone held the same understanding.

The currently recognized mainstream technical approach was to pursue high injection pressures and high concentration, high-intensity plugging. This approach consumed a lot of money but yielded minimal results.

Liu Shang, however, was viewing the current problems with the technical perspective of ten or twenty years into the future. With a high-level overview, the approach was naturally vastly different.

The next day, preparation work for the construction continued at the site.

Simultaneously, the necessary chemicals for the construction were to be gradually transported and brought in.

Liu Shang also called Ma Yuan to politely inform him of the types and total quantities of chemicals needed.

Ma Yuan, always smooth-talking, readily agreed verbally but inwardly plotted how to play some dirty tricks and little games.

However, just one minute after hanging up the phone, Liu Shang directly sent a list of the required chemicals via text message.

This left a communication record, eliminating any opportunity for Ma Yuan to resort to underhanded tactics.

This move greatly angered Ma Yuan.

Later, during his daily work, he found an opportunity to call the team leader, Wang Wanlin.

After discussing normal work matters, Ma Yuan smiled and said, "Brother Wang, the company letting Liu Shang come to the site this time is for him to get more experience."

"So, you can give him more practice with tasks like loading and unloading chemicals and other preparation work on-site."

Upon hearing this, Wang Wanlin on the other end immediately frowned. "Hey, Engineer Ma, what are you saying? Liu Shang is the engineer and overall commander for this construction. How can I, a mere team leader, give him orders?"

"Isn't that a joke..."

Ma Yuan chuckled, "Ah, what 'overall commander'? He's returning to school after this well is finished."

"He's only going to the site this time to learn and gain experience."

"Just listen to me. Feel free to assign him any necessary tasks, and don't be afraid of the dirty or heavy work."

"If anyone asks you, just say it's out of goodwill, to let him get more experience and understand the site."

"You can rest assured, just do as I say. If anything goes wrong, Chen Xu, the deputy manager, and I will take responsibility for you."

Although Ma Yuan sounded righteous, Wang Wanlin was already cursing him in his heart.

There had been many precedents at the company where, after problems occurred on-site, before the higher-ups even pursued the matter, Ma Yuan would already shift the blame and take credit for himself.

So, many people below cursed him as a son of a b****! If Wang Wanlin believed him now, he'd be an idiot!

"Heh heh, my dear Engineer Ma, it's not that your old brother isn't listening to your instructions, but Manager Zhong and General Manager Xu personally gave instructions on the relevant work yesterday."

"Why don't you have Manager Zhong or General Manager Xu give an order? I'll absolutely do it right away…"

Soon after, Ma Yuan angrily hung up the phone.

The fact that a mere on-site team leader dared to disobey him made him feel extremely furious.

So, when issuing the medication list for their team, he privately added 10 tons of swelling particles.

These swelling particles were a type of clay particle that expanded physically upon absorbing water. They had a strong sealing effect but were very ineffective. Liu Shang's list didn't have any of them at all; Ma Yuan had added them entirely on his own.

Furthermore, he had intentionally doubled the amount, with the goal of making Wang Wanlin and the others suffer a bit, forcing them to unload an extra 10 tons of cargo for no reason.

This was Ma Yuan's way of punishing them for not listening to him.

About a few hours later, with nothing to do at the field site, Liu Shang went to the oil extraction team to inquire with the client's technicians about the main line water injection and the detailed well conditions for this well.

However, when he returned to the team's on-site location, he surprisingly found Wang Wanlin and the others looking worried and diligently loading and unloading that large truck, which was piled high with swelling particles like a small mountain.

"Old Wang, where did all this swelling particle come from? What's going on?"