美國(guó)計(jì)劃通過(guò)政府出資緩解石油供應(yīng)過(guò)剩

據(jù)世界石油4月18日?qǐng)?bào)道，美國(guó)正在考慮通過(guò)政府出資，使美國(guó)石油生產(chǎn)商將原油儲(chǔ)存起來(lái)，以緩解市場(chǎng)供過(guò)于求的局面。美國(guó)能源部已經(jīng)起草了一項(xiàng)計(jì)劃,旨在通過(guò)有效地將未開(kāi)采的原油作為政府緊急儲(chǔ)備的一部分，石油儲(chǔ)量高達(dá)3.65億桶。

受此消息影響，5月份西德克薩斯中質(zhì)原油期貨價(jià)格上漲約20美分，至每桶20.42美元。周三早些時(shí)候，原油期貨價(jià)格18年來(lái)首次跌破20美元/桶。

聯(lián)邦法律已經(jīng)授權(quán)能源部留出多達(dá)10億桶石油用于緊急情況，但沒(méi)有規(guī)定這些原油的去向。這為在政府現(xiàn)有儲(chǔ)量之外儲(chǔ)存原油創(chuàng)造了一個(gè)合法的條件，甚至在一開(kāi)始就阻止了石油的開(kāi)采。在這種情況下，政府會(huì)購(gòu)買封存在地下的石油，要求生產(chǎn)商推遲開(kāi)采或交付。

這個(gè)將原油存儲(chǔ)在開(kāi)采地的計(jì)劃將需要國(guó)會(huì)撥款數(shù)十億美元，政府出價(jià)30億美元購(gòu)買戰(zhàn)略儲(chǔ)備石油，但競(jìng)標(biāo)未達(dá)成。這樣的協(xié)議可能是前所未有的，反映出政府正努力幫助國(guó)內(nèi)鉆探企業(yè)擺脫石油產(chǎn)量激增和需求銳減的困境。

包括伍德麥肯茲和IHS Markit專家在內(nèi)的分析人士預(yù)計(jì)，儲(chǔ)油設(shè)施將在夏季前被填滿，甚至可能更早。一旦發(fā)生這種情況，沒(méi)有地方存放原油的石油生產(chǎn)商將被迫停產(chǎn)，并解雇工人。

一些公司已經(jīng)在閑置鉆井平臺(tái)，并將過(guò)剩的供應(yīng)儲(chǔ)存在鐵路車廂里，而管道運(yùn)營(yíng)商則將原油輸送到未被充分利用的儲(chǔ)存地點(diǎn)。

鄒勤 摘譯自 世界石油

原文如下：

U.S. debates paying its producers to leave oil untapped during glut

The administration is considering paying U.S. oil producers to leave crude in the ground to help alleviate a glut that has caused prices to plummet and pushed some drillers into bankruptcy.

The Energy Department has drafted a plan to compensate companies for sitting on as much as 365 million barrels worth of oil reserves by effectively making that untapped crude part of the U.S. government’s emergency stockpile, said senior administration officials, who asked not to be identified describing deliberations prior to a decision and announcement.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for May rose about 20 cents to $20.42 a barrel on the news. Earlier Wednesday, crude futures settled below $20 a barrel for the first time in 18 years.

Federal law already gives the Energy Department authority to set aside as much as 1 billion barrels of oil for emergencies -- without dictating where they should go. That creates a legal opening for storing crude outside the government’s existing reserve and even blocking its extraction in the first place. In this case, the government would essentially buy the oil locked underground but ask producers to hold off on extracting or delivering it.

The keep-it-in-the-ground plan would require billions of dollars in appropriations from Congress -- and the administration just recently lost a bid in Congress to spend $3 billion buying oil for the government’s strategic reserve. A deal like this could be unprecedented and reflects a Trump administration push to help domestic drillers battered by a surge of oil production and a collapse of demand tied to the coronavirus.

Analysts, including experts at Wood Mackenzie and IHS Markit, expect storage tanks to fill by summer, if not sooner. Whenever that happens, oil producers with no place to put their crude would be forced to halt production and lay off workers.

Some are already idling drilling rigs and stowing excess supplies in rail cars, while pipeline operators are reversing flows to transport crude to underused storage sites.