美国有线新闻 CNN 卡塔尔明年元旦退出欧佩克 退群原因有何玄机

 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whenever you hear about oil, the word OPEC isn't far behind. OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum¹ Exporting Countries.

It's a group of 12 nations that have a lot of clout² in the energy market because they produce about 1/3 of the world's total oil and exports it around the globe. That's about 30 million barrels of oil every single day. It was formed in 1960. The goal, to coordinate³ oil production to ensure that members are pumping enough supply to meet demand.

If all 12 countries play by the rules, it can help to regulate and stabilize⁴ global oil prices. But there's also plenty of major oil producing nations that are not part of the OPEC club including the United States, Canada and Mexico and Russia. And they don't attend OPEC meetings and as such they're not bound by the cartel's decisions. And as these nations have increased their production over the past few years, OPEC's influence in the market has plunged⁵.

There's now an excess of oil supply which has pushed down prices significantly. The price drop has caused political problems in some OPEC countries that rely on oil sales heavily to fund their governments. Well, OPEC's grip on oil may be getting weaker, but it also means lower prices at pumps around the world.

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: We started with that today because it helps us explain the news that Qatar, a Middle Eastern country who's economy is heavily dependent on oil and natural gas sales, is pulling out of OPEC.

Here's why that's significant. For one thing, it's a set back for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC currently has 15 members. It will be down to 14 when Qatar officially leaves on January 1st and this comes at a time when OPEC is trying to increase it's membership. Over the past two years, the African countries of Congo and Equatorial Guinea have joined OPEC. One analyst⁶ says, Qatar's departure will reduce OPEC's oil production to where it was before the two new members signed up.

There's also an issue of timing⁷. OPEC's members and other major producers of oil are scheduled to meet this week to talk about reducing their production. They want oil prices to be higher. Some experts say Qatar's withdraw from OPEC probably won't have a major effective on the oil market but others say it could cause complications within OPEC.

But why is Qatar leaving? It's been a member of OPEC for almost 60 years.

Last year, several Arab countries including some other members of OPEC cut off their trade and diplomatic relationships with Qatar. They said it was because of Qatar's support for terrorist groups. Qatar has denied doing that but it's also increased it's production of natural gas to help it's economy. OPEC doesn't oversee⁸ natural gas production and Qatar's a major producer of it. In fact, it's largely because of natural gas production that Qatar has one of the highest per capita income levels in the world.

1 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

2 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

3 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

4 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

5 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

8 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。