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Oil in Russia
俄羅斯石油
Exxonerated
埃克森險(xiǎn)地告捷
Where BP failed, Exxon succeeds
英石油鎩羽之地見證埃克森的成功
FOR BP it could hardly have been worse.
對(duì)英國石油公司而言，這真是糟糕透頂?shù)南ⅰ?/div>
On August 30th Exxon Mobil struck a deal with Rosneft to explore the same icy blocks of the Arctic Kara Sea that slipped from BP's grasp when its vaunted tie-up with the Russian state-controlled oil firm collapsed in the spring.
8月30日，埃克森美孚與俄石油公司達(dá)成協(xié)議，共同開采英石油錯(cuò)失的位于北極克拉海的石油。這正是春季英石油曾自吹與俄國有石油公司結(jié)成聯(lián)盟最后卻告吹的那場交易中所談的同一片冰山海域。
Then things did get worse: the next day, one of BP's Moscow offices was raided by bailiffs.
屋漏偏遭連夜雨，第二天，英石油在莫斯科的辦事處遭法警的查抄。
The deal is a triumph for Exxon,
協(xié)議的簽署對(duì)埃克森美孚來說是個(gè)勝利。
giving it access to one of oil's richest frontiers, with none of the nasty add-ons that tripped up BP.
不用接受任何當(dāng)時(shí)附加在英石油身上的苛刻條款，埃克森得以開采世界上石油資源最豐富的一個(gè)地區(qū)。
The British firm's proposed link with Rosneft would have meant giving the Russian firm 5% of its shares, an arrangement that BP's existing Russian partner, AAR, objected to.
英國石油公司原計(jì)劃給俄羅斯公司5%的股份，這一協(xié)議遭到英國石油公司現(xiàn)在的俄方合作伙伴AAR的反對(duì)。
AAR took legal action and successfully blocked the deal.
AAR采取法律行動(dòng)，成功地阻止了這一交易。
Exxon, in contrast, is neither swapping shares nor violating any previous agreement.
對(duì)比之下，埃克森公司既沒有交換股份，也沒有違反此前任何協(xié)定。
It has pledged to spend $2.2 billion exploring the potentially oil-rich Kara and $1 billion prospecting in the Black Sea.
埃克森保證將耗資22億美元用于在潛在的富油的喀拉海進(jìn)行勘察、并花費(fèi)10億美元用于黑海勘探。
In return, it will allow Rosneft to take minority stakes in its deep-water projects in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore in Texas.
作為回報(bào)，它將允許俄羅斯石油公司在墨西哥海灣和德克薩斯陸上的深水項(xiàng)目中取得少量股權(quán)。
If all goes well, Exxon's total investment in Russian Arctic oil could run into hundreds of billions of dollars over a decade.
如果一切順利，埃克森公司在俄羅斯北極地區(qū)石油上的全部投資十年內(nèi)累計(jì)將達(dá)成千上萬億美元。
a figure Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, at a ceremony to launch the deal, described as “scary to utter”.
俄羅斯總理普京在啟動(dòng)交易的儀式上用“說出來嚇人一跳”來描述這一數(shù)字。
Whether such terrifying sums materialise will depend partly on the financial terms of Arctic exploration and the Kremlin's flexibility over the tax status of the project.
這筆天文數(shù)字款項(xiàng)能否成為現(xiàn)實(shí)將部分取決于北極勘察的財(cái)務(wù)條款以及克里姆林宮對(duì)這一項(xiàng)目稅務(wù)狀況的靈活性。
These are yet to be decided.
這還是懸而未決的事情。
Yet Exxon's plans already look more promising than BP's did.
但埃克森當(dāng)前的情況就已經(jīng)比當(dāng)時(shí)的英石油要樂觀得多。
When announcing that proposal, Bob Dudley, BP's boss, trumpeted his knowledge of Russian politics.
在宣布計(jì)劃時(shí)，英國石油公司老板鮑伯·杜德利吹噓其對(duì)俄羅斯政治的了解。
In fact it was BP's misjudgment of Russian politics and corporate culture that did for the deal.
實(shí)際上，正是英石油公司對(duì)俄羅斯政治以及公司文化的錯(cuò)誤判斷葬送了這筆交易。
Mr Dudley wrongly believed that getting into bed with a powerful Kremlin firm would cow his existing oligarch partners.
鮑伯·杜德利錯(cuò)誤地認(rèn)為與強(qiáng)勢的國有公司建立起親密關(guān)系就能震懾這個(gè)寡頭合作伙伴。
Having now alienated both, BP appears to have little protection against being pushed around in Russia—as the raid on its offices may suggest.
現(xiàn)在“成功”地疏遠(yuǎn)了雙方，在俄羅斯，英石油任由擺布毫無應(yīng)對(duì)之策—正如其辦事處遭查抄表明的那樣。
To Exxon's great advantage, its deal is more important to Russia, which desperately needs foreign investment and expertise in its oil industry,
這筆交易除了給埃克森帶來巨大好處之外，對(duì)于在石油工業(yè)極度需要外國投資和專門技術(shù)的俄羅斯而言，
than it is for Exxon, the world's biggest private oil firm.
顯然比世界最大私人石油公司更為重要。
Rosneft's share price jumped 8% after the announcement.
在交易公告發(fā)布之后，俄羅斯石油公司的股票價(jià)格上漲了8%。
Exxon's shareholders were less giddy, perhaps reflecting on the pitfalls of doing business in Russia.
埃克森的股東們卻不怎么敢輕舉妄動(dòng)，這可能反映了在俄羅斯做生意常有意想不到的陷阱。
They have experienced them.
他們是過來人。
In 2003 Exxon considered buying a large stake in Yukos, then Russia's largest oil firm.
2003年，埃克森曾考慮購買俄羅斯當(dāng)時(shí)最大石油公司—尤科斯的大量股份。
Yet shortly after Lee Raymond, Exxon's chief executive, flew to Moscow to negotiate the deal with Mr Putin,
然而就在埃克森的總裁飛往莫斯科與普京談判之后不久，
Yukos's main shareholder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested, Yukos was dismantled and its assets were swallowed by Rosneft.
尤科斯的主要股東霍多爾科夫斯基被捕，尤科斯被拆散，其財(cái)產(chǎn)遭俄羅斯石油公司吞并。
That outrage could yet cast a shadow over the Exxon deal in America, where politicians continue to condemn the Kremlin over it.
在美國，俄羅斯的那種駭人聽聞的做法到目前為止可能還在埃克森石油交易投下陰影。
Indeed, this may be one reason why Igor Sechin, Mr Putin's right-hand man, who oversaw the destruction of Yukos and the Exxon deal, has kept away from America.
美國的政治家們依然還在譴責(zé)那一行徑。實(shí)際上，這或許是普京的得力助手、監(jiān)管尤科斯公司破產(chǎn)以及埃克森交易的伊戈?duì)枴ぶx欽與美國保持距離的原因。
But American oil firms are a different matter: as Exxon has shown, so long as you sit on colossal oil reserves, they will always be happy to do business.
但是美國石油公司是另一碼事：正如埃克森公司表明的那樣，只要你還有巨大的石油儲(chǔ)量，他們就一直樂于跟你做生意。
