VOA新闻杂志2022 全球炼油能力为什么会下降?

Drivers around the world are feeling pain as fuel prices greatly increase.

随着燃料价格大幅上涨，世界各地的司机都感受到了痛苦。

Costs for heating buildings, power generation, and industrial production are also rising sharply.

建筑供暖、发电和工业生产的成本也在急剧上升。

Prices were already up before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.

在俄罗斯2月24日入侵乌克兰之前，物价就已经上涨了。

But since the middle of March, fuel costs have greatly increased while crude prices are only moderately high.

但自3月中旬以来，燃料成本大幅上涨，而原油价格还不太高。

A big reason for the cost increase is the lack of refining ability to process crude into gasoline and other fuel to meet high worldwide demand.

成本上升的一大原因是缺乏将原油加工成汽油和其他燃料的提炼能力，以满足全球的高需求。

Crude oil is oil as it exists in the ground.

原油是存在于地下的石油。

It is not yet ready to be used as fuel.

它还没有准备好用作燃料。

Refining oil involves removing unwanted substances so that oil can be used as fuel.

提炼石油包括去除不需要的物质，以便石油可以用作燃料。

Information from the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that the world can refine about 100 million barrels of oil a day.

国际能源署的信息显示，全球每天可以提炼约1亿桶石油。

A barrel contains 159 liters of oil.

一桶可装159升石油。

But almost 20 percent of that is not useable.

但其中近20%是不可用的。

Much of the unusable oil comes from places where there is a lack of investment.

许多不可用的石油来自投资缺乏的地方。

The refining industry estimates that the world lost a total of 3.3 million barrels worth of daily refining ability since the start of 2020.

炼油行业估计，自2020年初以来，全球总共损失了330万桶的日炼油能力。

About a third of these losses happened in the United States, with the rest in Russia, China, and Europe, the experts say.

专家表示，这些损失中约有三分之一发生在美国，其余的发生在俄罗斯、中国和欧洲。

Fuel demand crashed early in the pandemic.

燃料需求在疫情初期急剧下降。

Before that, oil refining ability had not fallen in any year for at least 30.

在此之前，炼油能力至少有30年没有下降过。

However, global refining ability is set to expand by 1 million barrels per day in 2022 and 1.6 million barrels per day in 2023.

然而，2022年全球炼油能力将增加100万桶/日，2023年将增加160万桶/日。

In April, 78 million barrels were processed each day.

4月，每天加工7800万桶石油。

That is down from the pre-pandemic average of 82.1 million barrels per day.

这低于疫情之前的8210万桶/日的平均水平。

The IEA expects refining to rise during the summer to 81.9 million barrels per day, when Chinese refiners return to normal operations.

国际能源署预计，随着中国炼油厂恢复正常运营，今年夏季全球炼油量将增至8190万桶/日。

The United States, China, Russia, and Europe are all operating refineries at a lower ability than before the pandemic.

美国、中国、俄罗斯和欧洲的炼油厂的炼油能力都低于疫情前。

Nearly 30 percent of Russia's processing ability was stopped in May, sources told Reuters.

消息人士告诉路透社，俄罗斯近30%的炼油能力在5月停止。

Many Western nations are not accepting Russian fuel.

许多西方国家不接受俄罗斯的燃料。

The cost to carry products on ships overseas has risen because of high demand around the world and sanctions on Russian ships.

由于世界各地的高需求和对俄罗斯船只的制裁，用船只向海外运输产品的成本上升。

In Europe, refineries are limited by high prices for natural gas, which powers their operations.

在欧洲，炼油厂受到天然气价格高企的限制，而天然气是炼油厂运营的动力。

Refiners that export a lot of fuel to other countries, such as U.S. refiners, are benefiting from the current situation.

向其他国家出口大量燃料的炼油厂，比如美国的炼油厂，正受益于当前的形势。

World fuel shortages have increased refining profit margins to historic highs.

全球燃料短缺已将炼油利润率推高至历史高位。

Companies like U.S.-based Valero and India-based Reliance Industries have seen large profits.

诸如美国的瓦莱罗能源公司和印度的信实工业之类的公司都获得了丰厚的利润。

The IEA said India, which refines more than 5 million barrels per day, has been importing cheap Russian crude for in-country use and export.

国际能源署表示，日炼油量超过500万桶的印度一直在从俄罗斯进口廉价原油，供国内使用和出口。

I'm Caty Weaver.

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