2007年VOA标准英语-Mexico's State Oil Company in Financial Trouble

By Greg Flakus
Houston
27 March 2007

Mexico's state-owned oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, better known as Pemex, celebrated¹ its 69th birthday on March 18, amid concerns that it is on the brink² of insolvency³ and its production is falling. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, Mexico, still has plenty of oil, but internal politics prevent the investment needed to develop the resources.

Petroleos Mexicanos, PEMEX, oil rig

At the close of President Bush's visit to Mexico two weeks ago, a Mexican reporter asked if the two men had discussed the issue of oil. President Bush, for his part, said oil had not been a topic of discussion since energy is a Mexican domestic issue, not a bilateral⁴ issue. President Calderon repeated his oft-stated position on energy reform.

He said he does not have any plan to privatize Pemex, but he said Mexico will have to address the problem of falling production at some point and that this will be a matter of discussion between the president and the Congress.

Mr. Calderon has made clear that he, like Presidents Vicente Fox and Ernesto Zedillo before him, sees a need for energy reform. When Mexico expropriated the oil industry in 1938, the idea was to keep the resources in Mexican hands and enrich the nation with oil profits. In recent years, however, it has become clear that Pemex is not up to the task of finding and developing all the resources under the ground, or more to the point, under the waters of the Gulf⁵ of Mexico, where its largest producing field, known as Cantarell, is now in sharp decline.

But nationalist politicians have blocked reform, claiming any change in the constitution that would even allow a slight opening to private investment would eventually lead to full privatization of the state-owned energy sector⁶.

George Baker⁷, an oil analyst⁸ who publishes the Mexico Energy Intelligence newsletter in Houston, says Mr. Calderon's razor-thin victory in last year's election and subsequent charges of fraud from the opposition⁹ have put him in a tough spot.

"There is still a very strong shadow from the 2006 elections and that means that it would be politically delicate for the government, at this point, so early in its career, to push forward a radical¹⁰ change, which this would be, in petroleum¹¹ policy," Baker said.

In Mexico, many citizens still respond to the old slogan that "the oil is ours," even though they see no direct benefits. Oil revenue accounts for about a third of the government's receipts, but Mexicans generally pay more for gasoline than people in neighboring countries and there is no dividend¹² payment distributed to the citizens from oil revenue.

Some Mexican politicians have argued that all Pemex needs is internal reform, but George Baker says that won't work.

"To improve Pemex, you need to have a view that is not Pemex-centric," he said. "You need to have a view that looks beyond Pemex and that any particular effort to reform Pemex, as an effort in itself, will not succeed."

Pemex owes creditors¹³ $107 billion, equal to almost all its assets. Petroleum reserves are the state's, not Pemex's, property. Since the government takes most of its revenue, Pemex does not have the money to pay its debts, let alone develop the technology it would need to find and produce more petroleum.

Baker says Mexico's hand may soon be forced by private development on the border between the United States-controlled area of the Gulf and Mexican waters. The Shell Oil company has a well on the US side of the boundary that could go into operation as early as 2010. Although no one can know for sure, it is possible that such a well would also draw some oil from deep rock on the Mexican side.

In a conference call this week, Pemex officials said they have identified 230 prospects¹⁴ for drilling in Mexico's Gulf waters, but the company only drilled four wells last year. At that rate, George Baker says, it would take 58 years to exploit those resources. The Houston analyst says Mexico needs to allow outside oil companies to operate there.

"In the Mexican side of the Gulf of Mexico, there is room for 20 or 30 companies to be actively¹⁵ drilling," Baker said. "Pemex, by its own, cannot drill 230 deepwater prospects. Pemex is not prepared to deal with deepwater exploration on a major scale and it is certainly not prepared to deal with deepwater production because it has never done that before and it does not have the experience or the resources to make that happen."

Baker says one proposal that might find support in Mexico would involve opening 20 percent of the energy sector to private companies, with Pemex maintaining 80 percent control. He says private companies, from the United States and elsewhere, have the technology and expertise¹⁶ necessary to develop the resources in Mexico, thereby¹⁷ boosting the country's overall production. He says other countries with state-owned oil companies that have tried this formula, like Norway, found that it not only improved production, but reduced corruption¹⁸ and brought greater efficiency to their operations.

1 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

2 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

3 insolvency   

n.无力偿付，破产

参考例句：

• The company is on the verge of insolvency.该公司快要破产了。
• Normal insolvency procedures should not be applied to banks.通常的破产程序不应当适用于银行。

4 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

11 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

12 dividend   

n.红利，股息；回报，效益

参考例句：

• The company was forced to pass its dividend.该公司被迫到期不分红。
• The first quarter dividend has been increased by nearly 4 per cent.第一季度的股息增长了近 4%。

13 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

15 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

16 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

17 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

18 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。