中海油今年擬削減資本支出
Cnooc, China’s third-largest oil producer, is to cut capital spending by up to 35 per cent this year compared with 2014, in the first such announcement by a Chinese energy company following the plunge in crude prices.
中國第三大產油企業中國海洋石油有限公司(Cnooc)，將把今年的資本支出削減至多35%（與2014年相比），這是原油價格暴跌以來中國能源企業首次宣佈此類決定。Many western oil groups have already announced plans to cut spending, but Asian companies have been slower to announce changes following the 50 per cent fall in crude prices since last summer.
許多西方石油集團已經宣佈了削減支出的計劃，但亞洲企業在宣佈改變方面迄今相對遲緩。自去年夏天以來，原油價格已下跌50%。
Cnooc, the most market-orientated of China’s three state-owned oil companies, said on Tuesday it will reduce this year’s capital spending to Rmb70bn to Rmb80bn ($11.2bn-$12.8bn), a drop of between 26 per cent and 35 per cent compared with 2014, “to preserve the company’s health in 2015 and beyond”, said Zhong Hua, chief financial officer.
中國三大國有石油企業中，中海油是最具市場導向意識的。該公司週二表示，今年資本支出將減少至700億至800億元人民幣（合112億至128億美元），與2014年相比降幅介於26%至35%之間。該公司首席財務官鍾華表示，這是爲了“保持公司在2015年及以後的健康”。
Cuts will be concentrated in development spending, which will drop by 67 per cent, Cnooc said. Spending on exploration and production will be reduced by 21 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.
中海油表示，在今年的資本支出中，勘探、開發和生產資本化支出將分別約佔21%、67%和10%。Cnooc has bigger offshore operations than its two larger rivals — CNPC and Sinopec — but has also increased its domestic gas business by taking over a coal bed methane producer.
相比整體規模更大的兩家競爭對手——中國石油天然氣集團公司(CNPC)和中石化(Sinopec)——中海油擁有更大的海上作業規模，而且通過收購一家煤層氣生產商，它還擴大了自己的國內天然氣業務。Cnooc expects oil and gas production to reach 475m to 495m barrels of oil equivalent this year, up from 432m boe in 2014.
中海油預計，今年石油和天然氣產量將達到4.75億至4.95億桶油當量，高於2014年的4.32億桶油當量。Li Fanrong, chief executive, said future output projections — which currently include further increases in 2016 and 2017 — could be adjusted if weak prices persist. “We want to pay attention to short-term results and stabilise our long-term development,” he added.
該公司首席執行官李凡榮表示，如果油價持續疲軟，未來產量預測（目前包括2016年和2017年進一步增產）可能會被調整。“公司將合理平衡短期效益和長期發展，”他補充說。But Mr Li said his company had no current plans to cut output from its relatively costly operations in North America, which it inherited with the $18bn acquisition of Canadian oil developer Nexen about two years ago.
但李凡榮表示，公司相對成本高昂的北美業務目前沒有減產計劃。中海油在大約兩年前斥資180億美元收購加拿大能源集團尼克森(Nexen)之後，接手了這塊業務。Past experience with brief suspensions of output from the Canadian oil sands had both increased cost and damaged production capability. “Our emphasis is not on cutting production but on managing costs,” Mr Li said.
以往經驗表明，暫停開採加拿大油砂既增加成本，也有損產能。“我們的關注點不是削減產量，而是控制成本，”李凡榮表示。Instead, most of the spending cuts are likely to take place in China, raising pressure on the country’s fledgling oil services companies, each of which are largely dependent on a single Chinese oil producer.
實際上，大部分支出削減很可能發生在中國，這可能給中國羽翼未豐的石油服務公司帶來更大壓力，此類公司基本上每一家都只依賴於一家中國石油生產商。These services companies were spun out of the three large Chinese oil producers, which retain large shareholdings in them.
這些服務公司是從中國三大石油企業剝離出來的，後者保留了前者的大量股份。“We believe the larger-than-expected decline in domestic spending is likely to negatively impact the outlook for [Cnooc’s listed oil services unit] in 2015,” said Barclays analyst Clement Chen.
“我們相信，國內支出遭到幅度大於預期的削減，很可能對（中海油的上市石油服務部門的）2015年前景產生負面影響，”巴克萊(Barclays)分析師Clement Chen表示。CNPC, parent of PetroChina, and Sinopec have not yet announced spending plans but are expected to do so this month.
中石油(PetroChina)的母公司——中國石油天然氣集團公司——以及中石化尚未宣佈支出計劃，但預計會在本月宣佈。Nomura analyst Gordon Kwan said he expected Chinese oil producers to cut spending by less than western energy groups “as they face a dilemma between boosting investor returns and supporting national energy security”.
野村(Nomura)分析師關榮樂(Gordon Kwan)表示，他預計中國石油企業的減支幅度將會小於西方能源集團，“因爲它們面臨一個兩難局面，一邊是提高投資者回報，另一邊是支持國家的能源安全”。
