2023考研英語閱讀阿根廷與YPF

　　Argentina and YPF

　　阿根廷與YPF

　　Flogging a Dead Cow

　　抽一頭死牛

　　The recently nationalised oil company agrees on abig foreign investment

　　最經剛剛國有化的油企接受了一項大型外國投資。

　　Jul 27th 2023 | BUENOS AIRES |From the printedition

　　Out of gas

　　LITTLE more than a year ago President Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner announced thenationalisation of YPF, an oil company owned by Spains Repsol. Ms Fernndez called it avictory for energy sovereignty, claiming that Repsol had plundered its Argentine holdingfor quick profits without investing in exploration or development. But on July 16th, after ayear in which YPFs oil and gas production continued to disappoint, the governmentannounced that it had agreed on a big joint venture between YPF and a different foreign oilgiant, Chevron.

　　在一年多一點之前，阿根廷總統克里斯蒂娜費爾南德斯德基什內爾宣布西班牙Repsol公司所有的石油公司YPF的國有化。費爾南德斯總統稱這是能源主權的勝利，她表示Repsol公司沒有投資探測開發卻坐收漁翁之利。但是一年過去了，YPF的石油天然氣生產仍然令人失望。7月16日，阿政府宣布接受YPF與另一家外國石油巨頭雪佛蘭組成合資企業。

　　Argentinas energy industry is in a sad state. In 2011 the country became a net importer ofenergy for the first time since 1984, further eroding its foreign-currency reserves, now attheir lowest in six years. Nationalisation has not helped: in the first quarter of this year YPFsoutput of crude oil fell by 0.7% and of natural gas by 3.7%. April saw a fire at a refinery.Energy imports are expected to reach $14 billion this year, up from $9.2 billion in 2023.

　　阿根廷的能源產業處境艱難。2011年該國自1984年之后再次成為能源凈進口國家，這進一步吞噬了其外匯儲備，達到了六年來的最低值。國有化一點作用都沒有，今年第一季度YPF的原油產量下跌了0.7%，天然氣產量則下跌了3.7%。四月份的時候煉油廠還發生了大火。預計今年的能源進口會達到140億美元，相比去年的92億大幅上漲。

　　The great hope is vast shale-oil and gas reserves in Neuqun province, which Repsoldiscovered shortly before the government expropriated YPF. The Vaca Muerta field is estimated to hold 16 billion barrels of shale oil and 308 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, which would give Argentina the worlds fourth-largest reserves ofshale oil and second-largest of shale gas.

　　最大的希望是內烏肯省頁巖層油氣田的大量儲備，這是由Repsol在YPF國有化前不久發現的。VacaMuerta油氣田估計具有160億桶石油和308萬億立方英尺的天然氣這會讓阿根廷一舉成為世界上第四大頁巖石油儲備國和第二大頁巖天然氣儲備國。

　　Extracting the deeply buried spoils is complicated, costly work. Jorge Ferioli of the WorldEnergy Council, an industry research group, estimates that developing Vaca Muerta willrequire $68 billion-89 billion. YPF lacks such funds, and Argentinas borrowing costs in effectbar it from seeking international financing.

　　開發這些資源很復雜，且花費巨大。世界能源委員會的Jorge Ferioli估計開發Vaca Muerta需要680億到890億美元。YPF沒有足夠的資金，并且阿根廷現有的借貸成本使得它也無法進行國際融資。

　　As well as bringing expertise, Chevron has promised an initial investment of $1.24 billion inVaca Muerta as part of its joint venture with YPF. The deal was announced after MsFernndez issued a decree seemingly tailor-made for Chevron, which states that energycompanies that invest over $1 billion will, after five years, be allowed to sell 20% of theirproduction abroad without paying export taxes or being forced to repatriate profits.

　　雪佛蘭已經承諾首輪投資金額會達到12.4億美元，并且會帶來專業技術。這筆交易在費爾南德斯總統發布了一項看起來是給雪佛蘭量身定做的法令之后宣布的，法令的內容是任何投資過10億美元的能源公司，五年之后，允許他們將其20%的產品出口到國外，不征收出口稅或者強制返利。

　　Opposition parties, which backed the expropriation, have labelled the Chevron deal are-privatisation and challenged the legality of the decree. They will make the most of thecontroversy in the run-up to congressional elections due in October. A year ago thegovernment considered energy sovereignty to mean Spanish, get out, whereas now itseems to mean Yankees, come in, says Daniel Montamat, a former energy secretary andformer head of YPF .

　　支持國有化得反對派稱這次的雪佛蘭交易是重新私有化，他們也質問此法令的合法性。他們會為了即將在十月舉行的國會選舉將此事放大。反對黨執政時的前能源部長兼YPF前老板Daniel Montamat表示：一年前，政府認為能源主權是滾蛋，西班牙人!，而現在則變成了快來啊，美國人。

　　YPF faces obstacles to attracting more collaborators. For one thing there is runaway inflationand a distorted exchange rate. More pressing is the governments unfinished businesswith Repsol. Argentina has yet to compensate the company a peso for the $10.5 billion itclaims it is owed. Last year, anticipating its deal with YPF, Repsol sued Chevron in Spain andthe United States; on July 24th it sought an injunction to halt the deal. Keeping the lights onin Argentina is not getting any easier.

　　YPF在吸引更多合作者時面臨阻礙。其一是惡性通貨膨脹和混亂的匯率。更重要的是政府尚未完成于Repsol的交易。阿根廷政府尚未向此次交易支付一比索，他們達成的交易金額是105億美元。去年，預見到雪佛蘭跟YPF的交易，Repsol在西班牙和美國都起訴了雪佛蘭。7月24日Repsol公司尋求禁令企圖終止這項交易。阿根廷的能源問題仍然棘手。

　　Argentina and YPF

　　阿根廷與YPF

　　Flogging a Dead Cow

　　抽一頭死牛

　　The recently nationalised oil company agrees on abig foreign investment

　　最經剛剛國有化的油企接受了一項大型外國投資。

　　Jul 27th 2023 | BUENOS AIRES |From the printedition

　　Out of gas

　　LITTLE more than a year ago President Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner announced thenationalisation of YPF, an oil company owned by Spains Repsol. Ms Fernndez called it avictory for energy sovereignty, claiming that Repsol had plundered its Argentine holdingfor quick profits without investing in exploration or development. But on July 16th, after ayear in which YPFs oil and gas production continued to disappoint, the governmentannounced that it had agreed on a big joint venture between YPF and a different foreign oilgiant, Chevron.

　　在一年多一點之前，阿根廷總統克里斯蒂娜費爾南德斯德基什內爾宣布西班牙Repsol公司所有的石油公司YPF的國有化。費爾南德斯總統稱這是能源主權的勝利，她表示Repsol公司沒有投資探測開發卻坐收漁翁之利。但是一年過去了，YPF的石油天然氣生產仍然令人失望。7月16日，阿政府宣布接受YPF與另一家外國石油巨頭雪佛蘭組成合資企業。

　　Argentinas energy industry is in a sad state. In 2011 the country became a net importer ofenergy for the first time since 1984, further eroding its foreign-currency reserves, now attheir lowest in six years. Nationalisation has not helped: in the first quarter of this year YPFsoutput of crude oil fell by 0.7% and of natural gas by 3.7%. April saw a fire at a refinery.Energy imports are expected to reach $14 billion this year, up from $9.2 billion in 2023.

　　阿根廷的能源產業處境艱難。2011年該國自1984年之后再次成為能源凈進口國家，這進一步吞噬了其外匯儲備，達到了六年來的最低值。國有化一點作用都沒有，今年第一季度YPF的原油產量下跌了0.7%，天然氣產量則下跌了3.7%。四月份的時候煉油廠還發生了大火。預計今年的能源進口會達到140億美元，相比去年的92億大幅上漲。

　　The great hope is vast shale-oil and gas reserves in Neuqun province, which Repsoldiscovered shortly before the government expropriated YPF. The Vaca Muerta field is estimated to hold 16 billion barrels of shale oil and 308 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, which would give Argentina the worlds fourth-largest reserves ofshale oil and second-largest of shale gas.

　　最大的希望是內烏肯省頁巖層油氣田的大量儲備，這是由Repsol在YPF國有化前不久發現的。VacaMuerta油氣田估計具有160億桶石油和308萬億立方英尺的天然氣這會讓阿根廷一舉成為世界上第四大頁巖石油儲備國和第二大頁巖天然氣儲備國。

　　Extracting the deeply buried spoils is complicated, costly work. Jorge Ferioli of the WorldEnergy Council, an industry research group, estimates that developing Vaca Muerta willrequire $68 billion-89 billion. YPF lacks such funds, and Argentinas borrowing costs in effectbar it from seeking international financing.

　　開發這些資源很復雜，且花費巨大。世界能源委員會的Jorge Ferioli估計開發Vaca Muerta需要680億到890億美元。YPF沒有足夠的資金，并且阿根廷現有的借貸成本使得它也無法進行國際融資。

　　As well as bringing expertise, Chevron has promised an initial investment of $1.24 billion inVaca Muerta as part of its joint venture with YPF. The deal was announced after MsFernndez issued a decree seemingly tailor-made for Chevron, which states that energycompanies that invest over $1 billion will, after five years, be allowed to sell 20% of theirproduction abroad without paying export taxes or being forced to repatriate profits.

　　雪佛蘭已經承諾首輪投資金額會達到12.4億美元，并且會帶來專業技術。這筆交易在費爾南德斯總統發布了一項看起來是給雪佛蘭量身定做的法令之后宣布的，法令的內容是任何投資過10億美元的能源公司，五年之后，允許他們將其20%的產品出口到國外，不征收出口稅或者強制返利。

　　Opposition parties, which backed the expropriation, have labelled the Chevron deal are-privatisation and challenged the legality of the decree. They will make the most of thecontroversy in the run-up to congressional elections due in October. A year ago thegovernment considered energy sovereignty to mean Spanish, get out, whereas now itseems to mean Yankees, come in, says Daniel Montamat, a former energy secretary andformer head of YPF .

　　支持國有化得反對派稱這次的雪佛蘭交易是重新私有化，他們也質問此法令的合法性。他們會為了即將在十月舉行的國會選舉將此事放大。反對黨執政時的前能源部長兼YPF前老板Daniel Montamat表示：一年前，政府認為能源主權是滾蛋，西班牙人!，而現在則變成了快來啊，美國人。

　　YPF faces obstacles to attracting more collaborators. For one thing there is runaway inflationand a distorted exchange rate. More pressing is the governments unfinished businesswith Repsol. Argentina has yet to compensate the company a peso for the $10.5 billion itclaims it is owed. Last year, anticipating its deal with YPF, Repsol sued Chevron in Spain andthe United States; on July 24th it sought an injunction to halt the deal. Keeping the lights onin Argentina is not getting any easier.

　　YPF在吸引更多合作者時面臨阻礙。其一是惡性通貨膨脹和混亂的匯率。更重要的是政府尚未完成于Repsol的交易。阿根廷政府尚未向此次交易支付一比索，他們達成的交易金額是105億美元。去年，預見到雪佛蘭跟YPF的交易，Repsol在西班牙和美國都起訴了雪佛蘭。7月24日Repsol公司尋求禁令企圖終止這項交易。阿根廷的能源問題仍然棘手。