Leaders Fumble Efforts To Temper Oil Prices
2008年06月09日13:02
飙升的油价令全球企业和消费者遭受重创，但从华盛顿到北京的政治领导人似乎都不愿或无力在近期拿出有效的新能源战略。
Soaring oil prices are battering businesses and consumers around the world, but political leaders from Washington to Beijing appear unwilling or unable to respond with effective new energy strategies anytime soon.
西方领导人对增加全球石油供应或抑制需求无能为力。全球石油需求的增长绝大部分并非来自发达国家，而是来自印度和中国等新兴经济体。发达国家的燃料消耗量实际上已经在下滑，而新兴经济体的政府因为担心引发社会和经济动荡，所以不愿意提高相对较低的燃料价格。
Western leaders have little ability to increase global oil supply or temper demand. Most of the rise in world demand is coming not from the rich world, where fuel consumption is in fact falling, but from emerging economies like India and China, where governments are reluctant to raise relatively low fuel prices for fear of social and economic turmoil.
巴基斯坦国营新闻机构上周末报道称，由于这个南亚国家的经济陷入困境，沙特阿拉伯已同意考虑允许巴基斯坦推迟支付进口石油的欠款，这一消息凸显了人们对发展中国家政治不稳定性的担忧。
Highlighting the concern about political instability in the developing world, the state-run news service of Pakistan said over the weekend that Saudi Arabia had agreed to consider deferring Pakistani oil payments as the South Asian nation's economy struggles.
据巴基斯坦新闻机构报道，巴每天从沙特进口约25万桶石油，高涨的油价令巴基斯坦的石油欠款在10个月左右的时间里增加了逾40%。
Pakistan imports about 250,000 barrels a day from Saudi Arabia, the news service said. Rising oil prices have increased Pakistan's oil bill by more than 40% in some 10 months, it reported.
上周五，油价创下有史以来最大单日涨幅，石油消费国的政治家们将面临更大压力，确定油价高涨的原因所在。在美国，民主党和共和党的政治家都感受到，由于油价在过去一年中差不多翻了一番，受挫的选民在今年大选年群情激愤──虽然以西欧的标准来看，油价水平依然较低。美国汽车协会(AAA)上周末表示，美国平均汽油价格首次达到每加仑4美元，而自5月底以来，许多州的消费者购买汽油的价格都已高于此数。
Friday's record one-day surge in oil prices will intensify drives by politicians in oil-consuming nations to fix blame for rising oil prices. In the U.S., politicians of both major parties feel the heat in this election year from voters frustrated as gasoline prices have nearly doubled in the past year -- albeit to levels that are still low by the standards of Western Europe. AAA, an organization for drivers, said over the weekend that average gasoline prices in the U.S. hit $4 a gallon for the first time, though consumers in many states already have been paying more since late May.
住在新泽西州Lake Hopatcong 的汽车代理经理马修?鲍尔(Matthew Power)开着一辆大型林肯城市车(Lincoln Town Car)，他说，汽油价格让他不堪重负。他说，美国政府迄今提出的应对高油价的措施只是治标不治本的临时性方案。他希望政府对公众作出解释：油价为何一直上涨。
Matthew Power, a car-dealership manager who lives in Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, and drives a large Lincoln Town Car, says gasoline prices 'are killing me.' What Washington has proposed so far to deal with the higher oil prices are Band-Aid solutions, he says. And he wants the government to explain to the public why oil prices keep rising.
在国会，民主党参议员们计划在周二对鲍尔这样的选民作出回应，他们打算通过法案，授权美国司法部(Justice Department)起诉石油输出国组织（OPEC，简称：欧佩克)成员，提高对石油交易商的担保要求以抑制投机交易，并向不投资开发可再生替代燃料的石油公司征收暴利税。
In Congress, Senate Democrats plan to respond to voters like Mr. Power on Tuesday by advancing legislation that would allow the Justice Department to bring lawsuits against members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, raise collateral requirements on oil traders to discourage speculative trading, and slap a windfall-profits tax on oil companies that don't invest in renewable alternative fuels.
这一议案不太可能获得共和党议员的支持，从而送到布什总统案头。布什没有正式表示对该议案的立场，但他已经表示要否决过去的一些提出对石油公司课以重税或允许对欧佩克提起限价诉讼的国会议案。
Such a measure is unlikely to survive Republican opposition before reaching President Bush's desk. Mr. Bush hasn't taken a formal position on the bill, but he has threatened to veto past congressional proposals singling out oil companies for higher taxes or allowing price-fixing lawsuits against OPEC.
对于暴利税或抑制投机的举措能在多大程度上控制高涨的油价，经济学家和能源行业人士意见不一。大多数能源行业专家都认为，根本问题在于石油供应量太少，难以满足迅速增长的全球石油需求。
Economists and energy industry executives disagree about the extent to which measures such as a windfall-profits tax or moves to curb speculation will rein in rising oil prices. Most energy industry experts say the fundamental problem is one of too little supply to satisfy quickly rising global demand for oil.
在欧洲，对于如何应对高油价带来的日渐高涨的抗议浪潮，有关官员也是分歧重重。由于大多数欧盟成员国经济增长减缓，加之财政预算紧张，如果削减燃油税，这些国家的领导人可能会面临财政崩溃的境地。英国首相戈登?布朗(Gordon Brown)迄今一直拒绝他所在的工党的议员提出的推迟提高老旧耗油车型的燃油税及公路税的要求。
In Europe, officials also are deeply conflicted over how to respond to a growing wave of protests over high fuel prices. With economic growth slowing and their budgets tight, most European Union leaders could face fiscal ruin if they cut fuel taxes. U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has so far refused demands from lawmakers in his own Labour Party to postpone a planned increase in fuel duties and to shelve a plan to increase road taxes on older gas-guzzling cars.
与此同时，法国总统尼古拉?萨科齐(Nicolas Sarkozy)已经提出对燃油产品的增值税设定上限。但这个主意被欧元区15国的财政部长们所忽视，后者上周在法兰克福的一次会议上表示，税制变化只会扰乱竞争。
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, has demanded that a value-added tax -- a kind of sales tax -- on fuel products be capped. But that idea has received short shrift from finance ministers of the 15 euro-zone countries, who in a meeting in Frankfurt last week said tax changes would only distort competition.
欧洲财政部长们似乎别无选择，只能含含糊糊地表示要抑制石油市场的投机行为，同时步美国和日本的后尘，每周发布石油存货数据以增加透明度。
European finance ministers seem lost for an alternative, talking vaguely of 'discouraging speculation' in oil markets and increasing transparency by following the U.S. and Japan in publishing weekly data on oil stocks.
与此同时，中国也不太可能出现重大的政策转变。中国日渐增长的石油需求常常被认为是油价高涨的重大原因之一。中国领导人对以8%左右的速度攀升的通胀忧心不已，并担心提高油价以控制需求会在当前的敏感时期令通胀状况恶化。中国面临着巨大的压力，不光要完成耗资数十亿美元的奥运会筹备工作，还必须为5月12日大地震造成的500万无家可归的群众重建家园。一些中国领导人称这次大地震是1949年新中国建立以来最为严重的自然灾害。
Meanwhile, in China -- whose growing oil thirst is often cited as a major contributor to rising prices -- prospects for a radical policy shift are also dim. The country's leaders worry about inflation galloping at around 8%, and fear that raising fuel prices to control demand could worsen it at a sensitive time. Not only is the country under pressure to finish multibillion-dollar preparations for the Olympics in August, but it must also rebuild housing for five million people left homeless after the May 12 earthquake, described by some of China's leaders as the worst natural disaster since modern China was founded in 1949.
本周日，中国国家发改委(NDRC)副主任张国宝表示，高油价是由于对冲基金和其他投机交易资金涌入石油市场造成的，如此高的油价可能会引发市场动荡。
On Sunday, Zhang Guobao, vice chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic policy-making body, said 'detrimental' high oil prices were caused by hedge funds and other speculators investing in oil and could spark instability.
这个周末在日本青森举行的八国集团能源部长及亚洲三大石油消费国部长会议上，如何提高能源使用效率受到了人们的关注，与会人士将其视为应对创纪录油价的最直接办法。八国集团石油部长以及来自中国、印度和韩国的石油部长对上周五油价达到创纪录的每桶138.54美元表示“严重关切”，并同意成立一个伞型组织以在更大范围内推广节能措施、分享节能经验。
At a meeting in Aomori, northern Japan, over the weekend, Group of Eight energy ministers plus officials from three Asian oil consumers put the spotlight on energy efficiency as the most immediate solution to record oil prices. The G-8 representatives and their counterparts from China, India and South Korea voiced their 'serious concerns' at the sharp run-up in crude to a record settlement Friday of $138.54 a barrel and agreed to set up an umbrella body to promote more widespread energy-saving initiatives and to share experience.
石油部长们的声明显示，西方国家在增加供应、降低油价方面并无什么短期措施。
The ministers' statement reflects the reality that Western leaders have few short-term levers for boosting supply and bringing down price.
英国政府表示，将努力增加北海的石油和天然气产量，同时，计划通过税收手段鼓励在某些目前认为无法开采的地区加大勘探力度。不过，这些手段也只能增加几万桶的日产量，难以阻止世界最大产油区之一北海油田长久以来的产量下降趋势。
The U.K. government says it will try to squeeze more output out of the North Sea's oil and gas fields, tinkering with the tax regime to encourage exploration of some fields currently considered unviable. But such moves would add only a few tens of thousands of barrels of oil production a day and would fail to arrest the long-term decline of the North Sea, one of the world's biggest oil provinces.
而在美国方面，共和党和民主党在油价飙升诱因的问题上正争执不下。目前控制国会的民主党认为，高油价是投机交易和欧佩克及石油企业的价格操纵共同作用的结果。
In Washington, meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats are at odds over what is causing the spike in oil prices. Democrats, who control the U.S. Congress, blame a combination of speculative trading and what they view as price-gouging by OPEC members and oil companies.
共和党及布什政府的官员则认为，高油价是世界石油供应跟不上中国、印度等发展中国家需求的上升造成的。在石油行业的怂恿下，国会共和党议员纷纷提议应允许开发美国禁开采区的油气资源，阿拉斯加的北 国家自然保护区等就属于这类地区。
Republicans, including Bush administration officials, tend to argue that the problem is a shortage of supply needed to keep up with rising demand from industrializing countries like China and India. With encouragement from the oil industry, Republican lawmakers are pushing to allow drilling in areas of the U.S. that have been off limits, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.
虽然高油价对石油开采商来说意味着创纪录的利润水平，但看不出石油业人士对周五的创纪录油价感到欣喜。近几个月来，主要石油公司的人多次被要求到国会回答有关价格操纵和牟取暴利的质询。
Although higher prices have meant record profits for oil producers, there was little evidence that industry executives were celebrating Friday's spike. In recent months, representatives of major oil companies have been repeatedly dragged before Congress to answer charges of price manipulation and profiteering.
这些公司始终坚称没有控制价格（大多数专家也支持这个说法），他们还表示，正在将获得的利润投入到石油勘探和开采中去。上周六在俄罗斯举行的一个论坛上，来自各大石油公司的人士表示，他们不仅在美国面临政治因素的挑战，在全世界都是如此。
The companies have consistently said they don't control oil prices -- an argument supported by most experts -- and are using their profits to find and produce more oil. At a forum in Russia on Saturday, executives from major oil companies said they are facing political challenges not just in the U.S. but around the world.
雪佛龙公司(Chevron Corp.)董事长戴维?奥莱利(David O'Reilly)指出，限制开发新的区域是在扩大生产方面遇到的最大障碍。埃克森美孚(Exxon Mobil Corp.)董事长兼首席执行长莱克斯?蒂尔森(Rex Tillerson)则表示，对难以进入新区域开发的担忧助长了油价的上涨。他说，只要有迹象表明将允许开发新区域，就会在市场上产生立竿见影的效果。
Chevron Corp. Chairman David O'Reilly called restricted access to new developments 'the biggest risk in expanding production,' while Exxon Mobil Corp. Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said concerns about access to new supplies are fueling the surge in prices. 'Just a signal that such access will be granted would have an immediate effect on the market,' Mr. Tillerson said.
一些迹象表明，业内人士的观点正在影响公众舆论。近期的一项盖洛普民意测验表明，只有20%的美国人认为高油价是石油公司造成的。而一年前的这个比例是34%。
There is some evidence that the industry's arguments are having an impact on public opinion. A recent Gallup poll showed 20% of Americans blamed oil companies for high gasoline prices -- down from 34% a year earlier.
但民主党议员们并没有大量开放新区域以供石油钻探的打算，至少近期没有。他们指出，布什政府任内，在联邦政府土地上进行的石油钻探一直在稳步增加。一些人还认为，需要出台更多措施以鼓励在已被出租的联邦土地上进行油气开发工作。
Democrats in Congress have shown little indication that they are ready to open up large new areas for drilling, at least in the short term. They point out that drilling on federally owned lands has increased steadily during the Bush administration. Some also contend that not enough is being done to encourage development of already-leased federal lands.
众议院自然资源委员会中的民主党议员上周在一份报告中说，美国不能靠增加国内开采量来降低油价。即使增加国内的开采量能够影响汽油价格，也不能说明应该在更多联邦土地上进行石油开采，因为事实证明石油公司尚用不满联邦政府授予它们的开采额度。
'The nation simply cannot drill its way to lower prices at the pump,' the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources said in a report last week. 'Even if increased domestic drilling activity could affect the price of gasoline, there is yet no justification to open additional federal lands because oil and gas companies have shown that they cannot keep pace with the rate of drilling permits that the federal government is handing out.'
业内人士表示，有诸多因素限制了石油公司在获准开采地区增加产量的能力。埃克森美孚的蒂尔森上个月对《华尔街日报》表示，之所以没有去开发一些区域，那是因为开采价值不大，或是技术上不具备可行性。
Industry officials say a number of factors limit their ability to quickly ramp up production in those areas. 'If it's not under development, it means it's not economic, or technologically we just haven't figured out how to do it yet,' Exxon Mobil's Mr. Tillerson told The Wall Street Journal last month.
Stephen Power / Guy Chazan / Shai Oster
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