经济学人42:一桩油气管道交易抓住了契机

 　　Business

　　商业

　　Energy Transfer bids for Sunoco

　　ETP竞购Sunoco

　　Put that in your pipe

　　纳入油管中

　　A pipeline¹ deal to exploit America's fast-changing energy landscape

　　美国能源局势快速多变，一桩油气管道交易抓住了契机

　　NODDING donkeys, offshore² platforms, refineries³ and filling stations are the bits of the oil industry you can see. A vast and largely invisible network of underground pipes joins them all together. It is worth a lot, which is why Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) said it would pay $5.3 billion for Sunoco on April 30th. It hopes to pull together two networks and shift more of America's booming oil and gas output.

　　抽油机，海上钻井平台，炼油厂还有加油站，你看见的这些只是石油工业的冰山一角。把它们连在一起的是一个庞大且几乎隐形的地下管网。它价值不菲，正因如此 ETP 公司于4月30日表示，愿意出价53亿美元收购 Sunoco 公司。美国国内的石油和天然气产量正快速增长，ETP 希望通过合并两家公司的管网，以输送更多油气产品。

　　ETP is ambitious. Last year its parent company, Energy Transfer Equity⁴, agreed to buy Southern Union and its gas-pipeline network for $5.7 billion.The latest deal will make ETP the country's second-biggest pipeline firm, behind Kinder Morgan, after the latter's merger⁵ with El Paso is concluded later this year.

　　ETP 公司踌躇满志。去年其母公司 ETE 同意出价57亿美元，收购 Southern Union 公司及其天然气管网。最新的收购将使ETP成为全美第二大油气管道公司。Kinder Morgan 公司并购 El Paso 之后排名第一，其交易今年晚些时候完成。

　　Sunoco comes with storage facilities, 4,900 filling stations and the remains⁶ of a refining business that it is trying to spin off in a joint⁷ venture with Carlyle, a private-equity firm. But the pipelines⁸ are the main attraction. ETP currently operates 17,500 miles (28,160km) of the arteries⁹ that transport gas and natural-gas liquids such as propane and butane. Adding Sunoco's 6,000 miles, built to carry crude oil and refined products, will reduce ETP's reliance on gas. After the deal, 30% of its revenues will come from oil.

　　收购带来了 Sunoco 公司的储油设施、4900个加油站以及一家炼油厂的剩余资产。Sunoco 打算把这些剩余资产剥离出来投入一家合资公司，该合资公司由ETP和私募股权公司Carlyle共同投资。但最诱人的部分是油气管道。ETP目前运营的油气管道干线达17500英里（约28160公里）。这些干线用于输送天然气以及丙烷、丁烷等液化天然气。加上 Sunoco 运输原油和精炼产品的6000英里管道，ETP对天然气输送业务的依赖程度将降低。交易完成后，ETP 30％的收入将来自石油输送业务。

　　This is important. In a few years shale¹⁰ gas's share of America's total gas output has gone from almost nothing to around a fifth. It will account for much more in the years to come. This changes the logistics of energy delivery, says Ronald J. Barone of UBS, a bank. Shale gas is much more widely distributed than the conventional sort. It is also more scattered¹¹ than the ports through which imported gas arrives.

　　这一点意义重大。近年来，在美国天然气总产量中，页岩气的比例几乎从零上升至五分之一。今后几年，这一比例将进一步提高。瑞士联合银行的 Ronald J. Barone 认为，能源运输的物流方式由此改变。与传统天然气相比，页岩气的分布更广泛。与进口天然气的港口位置相比，页岩气的分布也更普遍。

　　The more shale gas America uses, the more local the energy business becomes. Deliveries from gas basins in the south-west to the markets of the heavily populated Atlantic seaboard in the north-east are dwindling¹². The development of the Marcellus shale is displacing long-distance supplies with gas from Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

　　页岩气用得越多，美国的能源业务就越趋本地化。从西南天然气盆地到东北严重污染的大西洋沿岸，天然气输送量正在缩减。Marcellus 页岩气的开发利用开始取代宾夕法尼亚、俄亥俄以及西弗吉尼亚的远距离天然气供应。

　　Transporting gas still brings big and stable revenues. But diversifying¹³ into oil makes sense too. America's oil pipelines are largely unfettered by the rigid¹⁴ regulations that govern gas-pipeline tariffs¹⁵. So transporting gloopy oil is far more profitable than shifting lighter-than-air gas.

　　天然气运输带来的收入仍然丰厚，而且稳定。但业务扩展到输油领域也很有意义。在美国，输气管道要缴纳的关税被法规严格规定，而输油管道几乎没有这种束缚。因此，与输送比空气还轻的天然气相比，输送粘稠的石油收益要高得多。

　　And the oil business is looking peachy. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate fetches around $100, even as gas prices recently hit a ten-year low. This has encouraged gas producers to scurry¹⁶ after oil in liquid-rich shale beds such as the Bakken in North Dakota. To do this, they use the same rigs and techniques, such as fracking and horizontal drilling, as they use for gas. Within a few years the Bakken and other shale beds could be producing up to 3m barrels of oil a day, reckon optimists¹⁷. That is around a third of current imports.

　　原油业务看起来也相当不错。尽管最近天然气的价格跌至十年来的低点，每桶WTI 原油价格仍在100美元上下徘徊。受此刺激，天然气生产商急忙去含油丰富的页岩层里寻找石油，如北达科他的贝根页岩层。他们用同样的钻井和技术，如水力压裂和水平钻井去找油。乐观估计，几年内贝根及其他页岩层的产能将升至日产三百万桶原油。这相当于目前原油进口量的三分之一。

　　Owning the pipes that make all this possible should be lucrative¹⁸. America has long failed to invest in pipes, since investors¹⁹ assumed that the country would continue to rely on imports. So there is too little capacity in many places where it is now needed. And American buyers are clamouring for more oil from Canada, which will also need pipes. Targets like Sunoco are rare. ETP was wise to swoop²⁰ on it.

　　拥有油气管道使所有这些想法成为可能，并有利可图。由于投资者认为美国将持续依赖进口石油，长期以来都未在油气管道上进行投资。因此许多地方几乎没有油气输送能力，而现在需要管道。美国买家也在呼吁增加加拿大石油的进口量，这同样也需要管道。Sunoco 这种收购对象少之又少，ETP一举拿下可谓明智。

1 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

2 offshore   

adj.海面的，吹向海面的；adv.向海面

参考例句：

• A big program of oil exploration has begun offshore.一个大规模的石油勘探计划正在近海展开。
• A gentle current carried them slowly offshore.和缓的潮流慢慢地把他们带离了海岸。

3 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

4 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

5 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

8 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

9 arteries   

n.动脉( artery的名词复数 )；干线，要道

参考例句：

• Even grafting new blood vessels in place of the diseased coronary arteries has been tried. 甚至移植新血管代替不健康的冠状动脉的方法都已经试过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This is the place where the three main arteries of West London traffic met. 这就是伦敦西部三条主要交通干线的交汇处。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

11 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

12 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

13 diversifying   

v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的现在分词 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• Some publishers are now diversifying into software. 有些出版社目前正兼营软件。 来自辞典例句
• Silverlit is diversifying into new markets, such as Russia and Eastern Europe. Silverlit正在使他们的市场变得多样化，开发新的市场如俄罗斯和东欧国家。 来自互联网

14 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

15 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

16 scurry   

vi.急匆匆地走；使急赶；催促；n.快步急跑，疾走；仓皇奔跑声；骤雨，骤雪；短距离赛马

参考例句：

• I jumped on the sofa after I saw a mouse scurry by.看到一只老鼠匆匆路过,我从沙发上跳了起来。
• There was a great scurry for bargains.大家急忙着去抢购特价品。

17 optimists   

n.乐观主义者( optimist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Even optimists admit the outlook to be poor. 甚至乐观的人都认为前景不好。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Optimists reckon house prices will move up with inflation this year. 乐观人士认为今年的房价将会随通货膨胀而上涨。 来自辞典例句

18 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

19 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

20 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。