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Oil firms in Kazakhstan
哈薩克斯坦的石油企業
Cash all gone
錢全沒了
One of the world's biggest oil projects has become a fiasco
世界上最大的石油項目之一慘敗
WHEN it was discovered in 2000, the Kashagan oilfield in Kazakhstan's waters in the northern Caspian Sea was the world's biggest oil find in three decades. By now it was supposed to be pumping out 1.2m barrels a day (mbd), enough to meet Spain's entire consumption. But the project, whose name sounds unfortunately like “cash all gone”, went spectacularly awry. A year ago, when the first trickle of crude briefly flowed, it was already eight years behind schedule. Having cost 43 billion, it was 30 billion over budget. And production lasted only a few weeks before leaks of poisonous gas forced its suspension. Earlier this month a government minister admitted it would not restart until at least 2016.
當位于里海北部哈薩克斯坦水域的卡沙干油田在2000年被發現時，它成為了世界上三十年來發現的最大的油田。到目前它每天應該能產出120萬桶,足以滿足西班牙的整體消費量。但這個項目的名字聽起來很不幸，就像“錢全沒了”一樣,出現重大故障了。一年前,當它出油時,已經落后于預定計劃八年了。耗資430億美元,超過了預算300億美元。生產只持續了幾個星期，它就因有毒氣體泄漏被迫中止。本月早些時候,一位政府部長承認至少到2016年后油田才會重啟。
Undeterred by the Kashagan fiasco, this week the government said it would approve a plan to expand the onshore Tengiz oilfield, another huge budget-buster. Tengiz was first expected to cost 23 billion but the government said this week that the bill had risen to 40 billion.
并未被卡沙干的慘敗而有所動搖,本周政府表示,它將批準一項計劃,擴大陸上田吉茲油田,這是另一個巨大的花錢能手。田吉茲油田初始預估會花費230億美元,但政府本周表示,該賬單已升至400億美元。
Each of the two oilfields is owned by a different consortium of foreign firms and the state oil company, KazMunaiGaz. In Kashagan's case they include Exxon, Shell, Total and ENI. In part the project's setbacks are due to unexpected technical problems. Corrosive and poisonous hydrogen sulphide gas, pumped up from the seabed along with the oil, has eaten through pipes bringing it onshore. It may cost another 5 billion to fix the problem. But insiders say privately that with so many companies involved, the project has lacked clear leadership and suffered from government meddling.'
兩個油田分別由不同的外國公司所組成的財團以及國有石油公司—哈薩克國家石油天然氣公司控制,。卡沙干油田涉及到埃克森美孚、殼牌、道達爾和埃尼。部分項目的挫折是由意想不到的技術問題造成的。腐蝕性和有毒的硫化氫氣體,隨著石油從海床被抽上來時,會腐蝕輸送石油上岸的管道。這可能花費50億美元來解決這個問題。但業內人士私下表示,有這么多公司參與其中,該項目一直缺乏明確的領導并且受到政府干預。
Investors of all kinds worry about “the declining predictability of Kazakhstan's regulatory and legal environment”, says Mariyam Zhumadil of Halyk Finance, an investment bank in the commercial capital, Almaty. In 2010 the government filed a 1.2 billion tax claim against the consortium that operates another field, Karachaganak, while making noises about breaches of environmental rules, not long after expressing an interest in buying a stake in the field. Later the consortium gave it 10% in return for it agreeing to expand the field.
各類投資者擔心“哈薩克斯坦監管和法律環境的可預測性的不斷下降”,納魯克金融公司的Mariyam Zhumadil這樣說道，這家公司是設立在商業中心阿拉木圖的一家投資銀行。2010年,政府向運作另一個油田項目——Karachaganak的外國財團提出12億美元的稅收索賠,并鼓噪其違反了環保規定,但是不久之后又表達了入股的意愿。后來財團給它以10%的股份來換取政府對其擴大領域的批準。
Likewise, at Kashagan, environmental officials have fined the field's operators 737m for burning off the poisonous gas, which the consortium argues was an emergency measure. Ms Zhumadil reckons the fine is a “tool for future negotiations, perhaps to strengthen the national oil company's presence in the project.” This may not be the best way to encourage foreign firms to pump in the tens of billions of dollars more that are still needed to develop Kazakhstan's oilfields.
同樣的，在卡沙干油田，環境官員已經因燃燒有毒氣體處罰了該處油田運營商7.37億美元，但是該財團爭辯稱燃燒有毒氣體是一項緊急處理措施。Zhumadil女士推斷，這個罰金是一個“日后談判的工具，可能會強化國有石油公司在這個項目上的存在感”。這可能不是鼓勵外國企業投資仍需要數百億美元的卡沙干油田的最好辦法。譯者：朱羿丞
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