中石油和英國石油將開采伊拉克魯邁拉油田

Iraq's first big effort to attract foreign investment to its oil sector met stiff resistance from companies yesterday.

伊拉克吸引外資進入其石油業(yè)的首次重大努力，昨日遭到外企的強烈抵制。

Only BP of the UK and China's CNPC were willing to agree to Baghdad's tough terms, allowing them to win a bid to turn the country's Rumaila field into the world's second largest oil producer.

只有英國石油(BP)和中國石油天然氣集團公司(CNPC)愿意同意巴格達的苛刻條款，使它們贏得將該國魯邁拉(Rumaila)油田打造成全球第二大油田的投標。

In a process billed as crucial to Iraq's economic future, seven other oil and gas fields, including the highly sought after West Qurna field, failed to attract bids favourable enough to meet Iraq's conditions.

在被稱為對伊拉克經(jīng)濟前景至關重要的拍賣程序中，其它7個油氣田——包括備受追捧的西古爾納(West Qurna)油田——均未能吸引到足夠優(yōu)惠、可以滿足伊拉克條件的報價。

“The maximum service fee the Iraqis were willing to pay blew a lot of bids out of the water,” said Alex Munton, analyst at Wood Mackenzie, the industry consultants.

行業(yè)咨詢公司W(wǎng)ood Mackenzie的分析師亞歷克斯·蒙敦 (Alex Munton)表示：“伊拉克愿意支付的最高服務費，將許多投標踢出了局。”

The auction underlines the difficulties faced by Baghdad as it seeks to rebuild the state. Pressure is likely to increase on Hussein Shahristani, the oil minister, who is already under fire for failing to show progress in the dilapidated oil industry since the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein.

此次拍賣凸顯了巴格達在尋求重建國家時所面臨的困難。該國石油部長侯賽因•沙赫雷斯塔尼(Hussein Shahristani)承受的壓力可能會加大。自2003年薩達姆•侯賽因(Saddam Hussein)政權被推翻以來，伊拉克衰敗的石油業(yè)未能展現(xiàn)出多少進展，他已經(jīng)因此大受攻擊。

Although companies were willing to venture into Iraq without new oil industry legislation, they balked at the fees demanded by the government.

盡管許多公司愿意在伊拉克尚未出臺石油業(yè)新法律的情況下，冒險進入該國，但該國政府所要求的費用令它們卻步。

BP was forced to halve its fee – to $2 a barrel from $3.99 – to secure the contract. It also promised to boost the field's production, which is about 1m barrels day, to 2.85m b/d within six years, second only to Saudi Arabia's huge Ghawar field.

為贏得合同，BP被迫將費用降低了一半——從每桶3.99美元降到了2美元。它還承諾提升該油田的產(chǎn)量，將產(chǎn)量從目前的大約每日100萬桶在6年內提高到每日285萬桶，僅次于沙特阿拉伯的加瓦爾(Ghawar)巨型油田。

It is an ambitious target and one that will not yield a high profit margin, said Mr Munton. But he said that it would give the company a bigger stake in the Middle East, where its presence is lighter than its competitors.

蒙敦表示，這是一個雄心勃勃的目標，而且不會帶來高利潤率。但他表示，這將擴大BP在中東的地盤。目前該公司在該地區(qū)的地盤小于競爭對手。

For CNPC, which is BP's partner, developing Rumaila will offer the chance to secure oil supplies for China and develop ties with a key petrostate.

對于BP的合作者中國石油天然氣集團公司來說，開發(fā)魯邁拉油田將提供一個機會，讓中國保障石油供應，同時與一個關鍵石油國家發(fā)展關系。

The rest of the auction was largely disappointing. Royal Dutch Shell initially bid for the Kirkuk field but rejected Iraq's demand for better terms. Companies including ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, from the US, Europeans Eni and Edison, and CNOOC, Sinopec and CNPC, of China, did the same at other fields. Maysan, the gas field, failed to garner any bids at all.

其余的拍賣基本上令人失望?；始液商m殼牌(Royal Dutch Shell)起初向基爾庫克(Kirkuk)油田發(fā)起了投標，但拒絕了伊拉克方面對更優(yōu)惠條款的要求。多家公司在其它油田也有類似舉動，包括美國的?？松梨?ExxonMobil)和康菲石油(ConocoPhillips)、歐洲的埃尼(Eni)和愛迪生(Edison)、中國的中海油(CNOOC)、中石化(Sinopec)和中國石油天然氣集團公司。米桑(Maysan)氣田甚至未獲得任何投標。

譯者/董琴