经济学人62:阿根廷与YPF

 　　Argentina and YPF

　　阿根廷与YPF

　　Flogging a Dead Cow

　　抽一头死牛

　　The recently nationalised oil company agrees on a big foreign investment

　　最经刚刚国有化的油企接受了一项大型外国投资。

　　Jul 27th 2013 | BUENOS AIRES |From the print edition

　　Out of gas

　　LITTLE more than a year ago President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced the nationalisation of YPF, an oil company owned by Spain’s Repsol. Ms Fernández called it a victory for “energy sovereignty”, claiming that Repsol had plundered¹ its Argentine holding for quick profits without investing in exploration or development. But on July 16th, after a year in which YPF’s oil and gas production continued to disappoint, the government announced that it had agreed on a big joint² venture between YPF and a different foreign oil giant, Chevron³.

　　在一年多一点之前，阿根廷总统克里斯蒂娜·费尔南德斯·德基什内尔宣布西班牙Repsol公司所有的石油公司YPF的国有化。费尔南德斯总统称这是能源主权的胜利，她表示Repsol公司没有投资探测开发却坐收渔翁之利。但是一年过去了，YPF的石油天然气生产仍然令人失望。7月16日，阿政府宣布接受YPF与另一家外国石油巨头雪佛兰组成合资企业。

　　Argentina’s energy industry is in a sad state. In 2011 the country became a net importer of energy for the first time since 1984, further eroding⁴ its foreign-currency reserves, now at their lowest in six years. Nationalisation has not helped: in the first quarter of this year YPF’s output of crude oil fell by 0.7% and of natural gas by 3.7%. April saw a fire at a refinery⁵. Energy imports are expected to reach $14 billion this year, up from $9.2 billion in 2012.

　　阿根廷的能源产业处境艰难。2011年该国自1984年之后再次成为能源净进口国家，这进一步吞噬了其外汇储备，达到了六年来的最低值。国有化一点作用都没有，今年第一季度YPF的原油产量下跌了0.7%，天然气产量则下跌了3.7%。四月份的时候炼油厂还发生了大火。预计今年的能源进口会达到140亿美元，相比去年的92亿大幅上涨。

　　The great hope is vast shale⁶-oil and gas reserves in Neuquén province, which Repsol discovered shortly before the government expropriated YPF. The Vaca Muerta (“Dead Cow”) field is estimated to hold 16 billion barrels of shale oil and 308 trillion cubic feet (8.7 trillion cubic metres) of shale gas, which would give Argentina the world’s fourth-largest reserves of shale oil and second-largest of shale gas.

　　最大的希望是内乌肯省页岩层油气田的大量储备，这是由Repsol在YPF国有化前不久发现的。Vaca Muerta油气田估计具有160亿桶石油和308万亿立方英尺的天然气（8.7万亿立方米）这会让阿根廷一举成为世界上第四大页岩石油储备国和第二大页岩天然气储备国。

　　Extracting the deeply buried spoils is complicated, costly⁷ work. Jorge Ferioli of the World Energy Council, an industry research group, estimates that developing Vaca Muerta will require $68 billion-89 billion. YPF lacks such funds, and Argentina’s borrowing costs in effect bar it from seeking international financing.

　　开发这些资源很复杂，且花费巨大。世界能源委员会的Jorge Ferioli估计开发Vaca Muerta需要680亿到890亿美元（世界能源委员会是一个工业研究组织）。YPF没有足够的资金，并且阿根廷现有的借贷成本使得它也无法进行国际融资。

　　As well as bringing expertise⁸, Chevron has promised an initial investment of $1.24 billion in Vaca Muerta as part of its joint venture with YPF. The deal was announced after Ms Fernández issued a decree seemingly tailor-made for Chevron, which states that energy companies that invest over $1 billion will, after five years, be allowed to sell 20% of their production abroad without paying export taxes or being forced to repatriate⁹ profits.

　　雪佛兰已经承诺首轮投资金额会达到12.4亿美元，并且会带来专业技术。这笔交易在费尔南德斯总统发布了一项看起来是给雪佛兰量身定做的法令之后宣布的，法令的内容是任何投资过10亿美元的能源公司，五年之后，允许他们将其20%的产品出口到国外，不征收出口税或者强制返利。

　　Opposition¹⁰ parties, which backed the expropriation, have labelled the Chevron deal a “re-privatisation” and challenged the legality of the decree. They will make the most of the controversy¹¹ in the run-up to congressional elections due in October. “A year ago the government considered energy sovereignty to mean ‘Spanish, get out’, whereas now it seems to mean ‘Yankees, come in’,” says Daniel Montamat, a former energy secretary and former head of YPF (under opposition governments).

　　支持国有化得反对派称这次的雪佛兰交易是重新私有化，他们也质问此法令的合法性。他们会为了即将在十月举行的国会选举将此事放大。反对党执政时的前能源部长兼YPF前老板Daniel Montamat表示：“一年前，政府认为能源主权是‘滚蛋，西班牙人！’，而现在则变成了‘快来啊，美国人’。”

　　YPF faces obstacles to attracting more collaborators. For one thing there is runaway¹² inflation and a distorted exchange rate. More pressing is the government’s unfinished business with Repsol. Argentina has yet to compensate¹³ the company a peso for the $10.5 billion it claims it is owed. Last year, anticipating its deal with YPF, Repsol sued Chevron in Spain and the United States; on July 24th it sought an injunction to halt the deal. Keeping the lights on in Argentina is not getting any easier.

　　YPF在吸引更多合作者时面临阻碍。其一是恶性通货膨胀和混乱的汇率。更重要的是政府尚未完成于Repsol的交易。阿根廷政府尚未向此次交易支付一比索，他们达成的交易金额是105亿美元。去年，预见到雪佛兰跟YPF的交易，Repsol在西班牙和美国都起诉了雪佛兰。7月24日Repsol公司寻求禁令企图终止这项交易。阿根廷的能源问题仍然棘手。

1 plundered   

掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Many of our cultural treasures have been plundered by imperialists. 我国许多珍贵文物被帝国主义掠走了。
• The imperialists plundered many valuable works of art. 帝国主义列强掠夺了许多珍贵的艺术品。

2 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。

3 chevron   

n.V形臂章；V形图案

参考例句：

• He wore shoulderstrap rank slides with sergeant's chevrons.他佩戴标示级别的肩章，上面有中士的V形标志。
• The chevron or arrow road sign indicates a sharp bend to the left or right.V形或箭头路标表示有向左或向右的急转弯。

4 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

5 refinery   

n.精炼厂，提炼厂

参考例句：

• They built a sugar refinery.他们建起了一座榨糖厂。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

6 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 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。

9 repatriate   

v.遣返；返回；n.被遣返回国者

参考例句：

• The government safely repatriates victims.政府安全遣返了受害者。
• In this part,you need to formulate in detail repatriate the plan.在这一部分，你需要制定详细的归国计划。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

12 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

13 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。