VOA标准英语2013--9月欧佩克产量下降

 

OPEC Production Falls in September 9月欧佩克产量下降

OPEC’s crude oil production fell below 30-million barrels a day in  September. That’s the first time that’s happened in more than two  years.

There are two main reasons for the drop in OPEC production. John  Kingston of Platts says one is a temporary problem, while the other is  ongoing and may be more troublesome.

“The temporary reason is that there was significant maintenance at  some of the Iraqi operations in that month and that’s coming back. And  we would expect Iraq production to get back toward its normal level.  The one that’s been a lot more troubling – and it wasn’t new to  September, though it seemed to pick up pace in September – are all the  problems going on in Libya.”

Kingston is global director of news for Platts, a major provider of  information about the energy, petrochemical, metals and agricultural  sectors. He said that Libya’s crude oil production has fallen because  of strikes and protests.

“After Ghadafi fell, the country’s production came back a lot faster  than a lot of people expected. You know, they were producing about 1.6 -million barrels a day prior to the Ghadafi fall and the (output) of  course dropped down to like not much more than zero – and then climbed  back smartly. But now these problems that have brought production down  below half a million barrels a day, they are a little bit more  intractable. And they’re not the kind of things that get fixed¹  overnight. So Libya is clearly an issue for the oil market,” he said.

And Libyan crude is not the type that’s easily replaced.

He said, “The Libyan crude is some of the best crude in the world –  some of the top quality. So to replace it on the market what you need  to do is you need to produce more of a lesser² quality crude. So it’s  not a one for one. So this is clearly a source of some problems for the  industry.”

Kingston said Libya has used its geographic³ position in North Africa to  its advantage by supplying many refineries⁴ in southern France. Without  a strong central authority, he said, Libyan crude oil production may  remain up and down for a while.

“The kind of analogy is to look at Nigeria, which is always up and  down depending on the level of political tension and political strife⁵  there. You get a couple of months where they get back up over two- million barrels a day and you think, OK, there we go. They’re on their  way. And then a few months later they’ve shaved another several  hundred thousand barrels a day of production off their output. So the  concern is that Libya will have these months where some fields will  come back, but then they can sink right back down,” he said.

The fall in Iraqi and Libyan output was offset⁶ somewhat by small  production increases in Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Nigeria, UAE  and Venezuela.

The Platts survey shows that Saudi Arabia, which has boosted output in  recent months, remained unchanged in September at 10 million barrels a  day.

Kingston said that OPEC’s production rises and falls depending on  world demand.

“Right now, almost everybody in that organization is producing full  out except for Saudi Arabia. Kuwait and the UAE have some fluctuation⁷,  but it’s Saudi Arabia. And the Saudis in the last year or so have  fluctuated between a little over 9-million barrels a day and all the  way up to 10-million barrels a day. That’s quite a bit of movement in  just a year. So they’ve been stepping up to fill some of the gap that  has been left by the problems that Libya has had.” 

OPEC’s next scheduled meeting is December 4th in Vienna. It currently  has an official output ceiling of 30-million barrels a day.

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

3 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

4 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

5 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

6 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

7 fluctuation   

n.(物价的)波动，涨落；周期性变动；脉动

参考例句：

• The erratic fluctuation of market prices are in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。
• Early and adequate drainage is essential if fluctuation occurs.有波动感时，应及早地充分引流。