经济学人151:与熊共舞

 　　Business

　　商业报道

　　BP in Russia

　　英石油在俄国

　　Dancing with bears

　　与熊共舞

　　BP's Russian venture is already proving trickier¹ than expected

　　已有迹象表明英石油的俄罗斯冒险比预期的更为艰险

　　TONY HAYWARD, BP's ex-boss, once moaned that he wanted his life back.

　　英石油的前总裁托尼海沃德有一次抱怨说他希望回到从前。

　　That was after an oil spill in the Gulf² of Mexico last year, which the British oil giant expects will end up costing it more than $40 billion.

　　他说这话是在去年的墨西哥湾漏油事件之后，该事件使得这家英国石油巨头预计会损失400多亿美元。

　　BP, too, is struggling to get its old life back, even after apologising, helping³ with the clean-up, dumping Mr Hayward and taking a huge write-off.

　　英石油现在也在挣扎着想回到从前，即使它又是道歉，又是帮着清理了漏油，还炒了海沃德先生的鱿鱼，账面价值也大幅缩水，还是于事无补。

　　On February 1st it announced its final, awful, results for 2010: a loss of $4.9 billion.

　　二月一日英石油发布了该公司2010年最终年度报告，真是糟糕透顶：全年亏损49亿美元。

　　That was BP's first loss since 1992, but the company fondly hopes that it will now have an opportunity to move on.

　　这是英石油自1992年来首次亏损，但是它却痴望会有机会摆脱困境，继续前进。

　　It would like to direct the world's attention to its efforts to improve safety, its plan to start paying dividends⁵ once again this year and its ideas for the future.

　　英石油正在努力提升安全标准，并打算今年重新开始发付股息，它对未来也颇有盘算，希望借此吸引全世界的注意。

　　Alas⁶, some of those plans are already hitting obstacles.

　　可惜，英石油的一些盘算现在就已经触礁了。

　　Two weeks ago BP announced a new partnership⁷ with Rosneft, Russia's state-controlled oil giant, that will see the companies exploring a large and promising⁸ part of Russia's Arctic region for oil.

　　两周前，英石油宣布与俄罗斯石油巨头俄罗斯国家石油建立新的合作关系。这使得这两家公司有望联合勘探俄罗斯北极圈内的广阔而富饶的领土以寻找石油。

　　The deal gives BP access to Russian reserves which are normally kept out of foreign reach.

　　这桩交易使得英石油能够开采一般外国企业无法企及的俄罗斯石油资源。

　　In return Rosneft will get 5% of BP's shares, making it one of the largest shareholders¹⁰.

　　而俄罗斯国家石油则将获得英石油5%的股份，使得它成为英石油最大的股东。

　　It will also share BP's expertise¹¹ and technology.

　　此外，俄罗斯国家石油还能够分享英石油的经验和技术。

　　The deal sparked a furious row between BP and its partners in TNK-BP, a Russian oil company run as a joint¹² venture between BP and a few Russian oligarchs.

　　但这桩交易却引发了英石油与其在秋明-英国石油中的合作者的激烈争吵，秋明-英国石油是一家俄罗斯石油公司，由英石油和一些俄罗斯寡头合办。

　　On the same day that BP's results were announced, a judge in London granted a request by Alfa-Access-Renova, the vehicle through which Russian partners hold their stake in TNK-BP, that the Rosneft deal be put on ice until at least February 25th.

　　在英石油年终报告出炉的当天，伦敦的一名法官批准了Alfa-Acess-Renova集团关于暂停英石油与俄罗斯国家石油的那桩交易至少暂停到二月二十五日的请求。AAR集团是英石油的俄罗斯合作者们借以控制他们在秋明-英国石油中股份的媒介。

　　AAR argues that TNK-BP is meant to enjoy an exclusive right to develop any further deals in Russia to which BP might be a party.

　　AAR集团认为该集团对于任何在俄罗斯达成的并有英石油参与的新交易，都享有独家权力。

　　It complains that BP has stiffed it.

　　它投诉英石油有欺诈行为。

　　BP is acting¹³ more Russian than a Russian firm,” says one of AAR's largest shareholders. AAR has also moved to block a dividend⁴ from TNK-BP that would have yielded BP $900m.

　　英石油比俄国企业还要有俄国味，”AAR集团的一名大股东说道。AAR集团还申请秋明-英国石油停止付给英石油9亿美元的股息收入。

　　At a press conference Bob Dudley, BP's new boss, said that it had been impossible for BP to talk to AAR in advance of the Rosneft deal because of the market sensitivity of the share swap¹⁴ involved, and that BP and its partners would be headed for arbitration¹⁵ on the matter regardless of the court verdict.

　　在一场新闻发布会上，英石油的新老板鲍勃达得利表示在与俄罗斯国家石油达成交易之前就给AAR集团透风是不可能的，因为对于股权交换，市场一向很敏感。对于该交易引发的争端，尽管有法庭裁定，英石油及其合作者们还是会寻求仲裁解决。

　　He says he expects to come to a settlement quite easily, and that one of BP's strengths is its long history of involvement with Russia, which contributes about 10% of BP's profits.

　　达得利说他预计他们能够很轻松的解决争端。英石油长期与俄罗斯的生意往来是其力量源泉之一，该公司10%的利润都来自俄国。

　　At least some of this history, however, consists of misjudging Russian politics and quarrelling with its partners.

　　但是在这段交往史中，英石油有时对俄国政治状况及该公司与其合作者之间的争端作出了错误的判断。

　　When BP formed its joint venture with TNK in 2003, oligarchs seemed the partners of choice for getting things done in Russia.

　　2003年，当英石油与秋明石油合作成立秋明-英国石油的时候，俄罗斯的寡头们似乎是英石油在俄罗斯获得成功的正确选择。

　　But in 2008, having judged that the ultimate power in Russia lay with state energy companies, BP went behind the backs of its private Russian partners to negotiate a deal with Gazprom, the state-controlled gas behemoth.

　　但是到了2008年，英石油看出俄罗斯的最终权力还是握在国有能源公司手里，于是它背着它在俄国的私人合作者与俄罗斯的国有天然气巨头—俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司商谈一笔交易。

　　This did not go down well.

　　这件事情可让其他人接受不了。

　　BP underestimated the power of Mikhail Fridman, one of its oligarch partners.

　　英石油低估了米哈伊尔·弗里德曼的实力，弗里德曼是一名俄罗斯寡头，也是英石油的一名合作伙伴。

　　A self-made entrepreneur, Mr Fridman got rich in the 1990s and then consolidated¹⁶ his business under Vladimir Putin while remaining his own man—a trick few have managed.

　　弗里德曼白手起家，在上世纪90年代发了财。弗拉基米尔·普京当政期间弗里德曼不仅巩固了自己的业务，还保持毫发无损—能做到这一点的人可不多。

　　BP's attempt to outplay Russian oligarchs at their own game of power politics failed.

　　英石油企图在俄国寡头们所熟习的强权政治游戏中击败他们，但是遭到了失败。

　　Mr Fridman pulled strings¹⁷, Gazprom disengaged and Mr Dudley, then the chief executive of TNK-BP, had to flee Russia.

　　由于弗里德曼先生的幕后操纵，俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司退出了与英石油的合作，当时的秋明-英国石油总裁达得利先生也不得不逃离俄罗斯。

　　Purported¹⁸ diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks suggest that Igor Sechin, the deputy prime minister and chairman of Rosneft, BP's new partner, was co-operating with Alfa Mr Fridman's firm and played a part in Mr Dudley's ouster.

　　据说维基解密公布的外交密电透露俄罗斯副总理，俄罗斯国家石油董事长伊戈尔谢琴曾与阿尔法集团弗里德曼先生的企业联手赶走达得利先生。

　　Of oil and oligarchs

　　关于石油和寡头

　　Now BP is in bed with Rosneft and has shaken hands with Mr Sechin, who is widely seen as the architect of the attack on Yukos, an oil firm that was dismantled¹⁹ with scant²⁰ regard to the law in 2004.

　　现在，英石油与谢琴先生已经握手言欢，和俄罗斯国家石油达成了合作。人们广泛认为谢琴是攻击尤科斯石油的始作俑者。2004年，尽管法律依据不足，尤科斯石油仍然被迫解体。

　　Yukos's main shareholder⁹, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is now in jail.

　　尤科斯的主要股东，米哈伊尔· 霍多科夫斯基则锒铛入狱。

　　He was ostentatiously given a second prison sentence just as the BP-Rosneft deal was announced.

　　在英石油和俄罗斯国家石油宣布其交易之时，霍多科夫斯基又被大张声势地追加刑罚。

　　BP may become embroiled²¹ in the legal battle over Yukos's assets, which were swallowed by Rosneft.

　　由于尤科斯的资产主要被俄罗斯国家石油吞并，英石油因此有可能被卷入到围绕尤科斯的资产而展开的法律争斗之中。

　　But first the British firm faces a fight with Mr Fridman.

　　但是英石油首先得面对一场与弗里德曼先生的斗争。

　　If BP assumed that its partnership with Rosneft meant that Mr Fridman would not dare to protest, and that Mr Sechin would always take BP's side, it may have miscalculated.

　　如果英石油认为它与俄罗斯国家石油的合作关系意味着弗里德曼先生不敢抗议，认为谢琴先生会一直站在英石油这一边，那它可能就盘算错了。

　　The legal challenge from AAR is said to come with the full knowledge and approval of the Kremlin.

　　据说克里姆林宫对AAR集团借助法律向英石油发难一事了解的一清二楚，并且它鼎力支持AAR集团的举动。

　　BP has a very simplistic view of the power structure in Russia,” says Mr Fridman.

　　英石油对俄罗斯的权力结构的考虑过于简单，”弗里德曼先生说。

　　AAR does not have any interest in destroying Rosneft's $16 billion deal with BP.

　　AAR集团对于毁掉俄罗斯国家石油与英石油的这桩160亿美元的交易没有丝毫兴趣。

　　But equally Mr Sechin is unlikely to stand in Mr Fridman's way when he demands that BP compensate²² AAR handsomely.

　　但同样的一旦弗里德曼先生要求英石油给予AAR集团一笔可观的赔款时，谢琴先生也不大可能会挡弗里德曼的道。

　　Rather than wanting to chase Mr Dudley away again, the Kremlin and AAR are keen to draw BP deeper into Russian business and gain more influence over it.

　　克里姆林宫以及AAR集团更希望将英石油拖进俄罗斯商界深处并且能够对它施加更多的影响，而不是想把达得利先生再次赶走。

　　Rosneft wants to transform itself into a respectable global oil firm, using its relationship with BP as a stepping-stone.

　　俄罗斯国家石油企图以其与英石油的关系作为垫脚石，将自己转变为一家受人尊敬的全球性石油企业。

　　BP must surely have its qualms²³ about this; but all the parties' interests are at least aligned²⁴ on one thing.

　　英石油当然会对此有所疑虑；但各方起码还是有一个利益一致处，

　　They want those Arctic oilfields to make money.

　　那就是他们都想靠北极油田赚钱。

　　As Mr Dudley affirmed this week, BP's long-term strategy is to keep searching for oil, which is more lucrative²⁵ than gas.

　　正如达得利先生本周所证实，英石油的长期战略就是不断探寻石油。石油比天然气更赚钱。

　　And with more and more of the world's oil being produced by state-owned oil firms, private ones need to go to greater extremes, both technologically²⁶ and politically, to stay in the game.

　　而因为世界上越来越多的石油都为国有石油企业所生产，私人石油企业就不得不在技术上和政治上不断超越极限，以求在行业中继续求得生存。

1 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 dividend   

n.红利，股息；回报，效益

参考例句：

• The company was forced to pass its dividend.该公司被迫到期不分红。
• The first quarter dividend has been increased by nearly 4 per cent.第一季度的股息增长了近 4%。

5 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

6 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

9 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

10 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

11 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

12 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

14 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

15 arbitration   

n.调停，仲裁

参考例句：

• The wage disagreement is under arbitration.工资纠纷正在仲裁中。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding.双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

16 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。

17 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

18 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 dismantled   

拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消

参考例句：

• The plant was dismantled of all its equipment and furniture. 这家工厂的设备和家具全被拆除了。
• The Japanese empire was quickly dismantled. 日本帝国很快被打垮了。

20 scant   

adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略

参考例句：

• Don't scant the butter when you make a cake.做糕饼时不要吝惜奶油。
• Many mothers pay scant attention to their own needs when their children are small.孩子们小的时候，许多母亲都忽视自己的需求。

21 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

23 qualms   

n.不安；内疚

参考例句：

• He felt no qualms about borrowing money from friends.他没有对于从朋友那里借钱感到不安。
• He has no qualms about lying.他撒谎毫不内疚。

24 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

25 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

26 technologically   

ad.技术上地

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a technologically advanced city. 上海是中国的一个技术先进的城市。
• Many senior managers are technologically illiterate. 许多高级经理都对技术知之甚少。