Oil majors including Exxon-Mobil and BP have started evacuating staff from Iraq as Sunni militants battle for control of the north’s main refinery and clashes continue to rage across the country.
埃克森美孚(Exxon Mobil)、英国石油(BP)等石油巨擘开始将员工撤离伊拉克。逊尼派(Sunni)武装分子正在攻打伊拉克北部主要炼油厂,试图控制该厂。冲突继续在该国肆虐。
Exxon has pulled expatriate staff out of its West Qurna 1 field in the south, according to people close to the company. BP said it had taken non-essential employees out of the giant Rumaila field it runs nearby.
据知情人士称,埃克森美孚已将其员工从伊拉克南部的West Qurna 1号油田撤离。英国石油表示,已将非必要人员从附近其运营的鲁迈拉(Rumaila)大油田撤离。
Hans Nijkamp, chairman of Royal Dutch Shell in Iraq, said the company had a plan in place to remove staff from the country if the situation deteriorated, although it has not evacuated any employees so far. Other oil majors have similar contingency plans in place.
荷兰皇家壳牌(Royal Dutch Shell)驻伊拉克董事长汉斯•尼卡普(Hans Nijkamp)表示,该公司已制定计划,一旦形势恶化,将撤离驻伊拉克员工。不过,目前该公司尚未撤离员工。其他石油巨擘也制定了类似的应急计划。
Iraq’s main oil facilities are in the south, far from the areas captured by rebels from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as Isis. So far exports and production have not been hit by the fighting.
伊拉克的主要石油设施位于南部,远离“伊拉克与黎凡特伊斯兰国”(Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,简称Isis)叛军所占领的地区。目前,出口和生产尚未受到冲突的影响。
However, the evacuations show how Isis’s rapid military advance and the collapse of the Iraqi army in places like Mosul have started to change the calculus for western oil companies active in the south.
然而,石油巨擘疏散员工的举动表明,Isis的快速军事推进以及伊拉克军队在摩苏尔等地的溃败,已开始改变在伊拉克南部开展业务的西方石油公司的计划。
Some experts warn if the violence continues to escalate, the companies that have spearheaded the revival of Iraq’s oil industry could be forced to reconsider their presence there.
一些专家警告称,如果暴力继续升级,那些引领伊拉克石油行业复兴的企业可能被迫重新考虑在该国的业务。
Ed Morse, chief oil analyst at Citigroup, said the insurgents’ military gains would have big repercussions for Iraq’s future oil supply. He said: “The longer the insurgency lasts and the more divisive it becomes, the more difficult it will be for Iraq to even approach its potential to sustain production at 6m barrels a day or more.”
花旗集团(Citigroup)首席石油分析师艾德•摩尔斯(Ed Morse)表示,叛军的军事进展将对伊拉克未来的石油供应产生重大影响。他表示:“叛乱持续越久,分裂越严重,伊拉克就越难以发挥潜力,维持每天600万桶或更高的产量。”
That would have “radical implications for oil markets” at a time of widespread supply disruptions in places like Libya, he added. So far the oil price has stayed relatively stable, edging up towards $114 a barrel in afternoon trading.
他补充道,在利比亚等地石油供应普遍受到干扰的情况下,伊拉克形势将“对石油市场产生根本性的影响”。迄今为止,油价维持在相对稳定的水平,在下午时段微涨逼近每桶114美元。
As Isis launched an attack on the Baiji refinery on Tuesday night, Nouri Maliki, prime minister, sacked four military commanders. News agencies quoted officials at the refinery saying Isis fighters were shelling the facility with mortars and had taken over several of the important sites at the plant, 250km north of the capital Baghdad.
在Isis周二晚向Baiji炼油厂发起进攻之际,伊拉克总理努里•马利基(Nouri al-Maliki)解除了四位军事指挥官的职务。新闻机构援引该炼油厂主管人员的说法称,Isis武装人员正使用迫击炮攻击炼油厂,并且已经攻下了工厂的数个重要据点。该炼油厂位于首都巴格达以北250公里。