中海油今年拟削减资本支出

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.

中国第三大产油企业中国海洋石油有限公司(Cnooc)，将把今年的资本支出削减至多35%（与2014年相比），这是原油价格暴跌以来中国能源企业首次宣布此类决定。

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.

许多西方石油集团已经宣布了削减支出的计划，但亚洲企业在宣布改变方面迄今相对迟缓。自去年夏天以来，原油价格已下跌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.

中国三大国有石油企业中，中海油是最具市场导向意识的。该公司周二表示，今年资本支出将减少至700亿至800亿元人民币（合112亿至128亿美元），与2014年相比降幅介于26%至35%之间。该公司首席财务官钟华表示，这是为了“保持公司在2015年及以后的健康”。

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，在今年的资本支出中，勘探、开发和生产资本化支出将分别约占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.

相比整体规模更大的两家竞争对手——中国石油天然气集团公司(CNPC)和中石化(Sinopec)——中海油拥有更大的海上作业规模，而且通过收购一家煤层气生产商，它还扩大了自己的国内天然气业务。

Cnooc expects oil and gas production to reach 475m to 495m barrels of oil equivalent this year, up from 432m boe in 2014.

中海油预计，今年石油和天然气产量将达到4.75亿至4.95亿桶油当量，高于2014年的4.32亿桶油当量。

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.

该公司首席执行官李凡荣表示，如果油价持续疲软，未来产量预测（目前包括2016年和2017年进一步增产）可能会被调整。“公司将合理平衡短期效益和长期发展，”他补充说。

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.

但李凡荣表示，公司相对成本高昂的北美业务目前没有减产计划。中海油在大约两年前斥资180亿美元收购加拿大能源集团尼克森(Nexen)之后，接手了这块业务。

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.

以往经验表明，暂停开采加拿大油砂既增加成本，也有损产能。“我们的关注点不是削减产量，而是控制成本，”李凡荣表示。

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.

实际上，大部分支出削减很可能发生在中国，这可能给中国羽翼未丰的石油服务公司带来更大压力，此类公司基本上每一家都只依赖于一家中国石油生产商。

These services companies were spun out of the three large Chinese oil producers, which retain large shareholdings in them.

这些服务公司是从中国三大石油企业剥离出来的，后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.

“我们相信，国内支出遭到幅度大于预期的削减，很可能对（中海油的上市石油服务部门的）2015年前景产生负面影响，”巴克莱(Barclays)分析师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——中国石油天然气集团公司——以及中石化尚未宣布支出计划，但预计会在本月宣布。

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)分析师关荣乐(Gordon Kwan)表示，他预计中国石油企业的减支幅度将会小于西方能源集团，“因为它们面临一个两难局面，一边是提高投资者回报，另一边是支持国家的能源安全”。