油價暴跌導致美國諸多低產油井關閉

Analysts examining the effect of the oil price’s precipitous decline on companies should spare a thought for stripper well operators, the mom-and-pop businesses that coax the last trickles of crude from long-ago drilled holes.

那些研究油價大幅下挫對企業影響的分析人士們，應該關注一下那些低產油井(stripper well)運營商們了，他們一般都是小作坊式經營，做的就是從很久以前鑽探的油井中採出最後一批原油。

Although tiny in isolation — the average stripper well yields less than 2 b/d — there are more than 400,000 such wells in the US supplying about 11 per cent of US oil production. They produced 700,000 barrels per day in 2012, the latest year for which data are available — as much as the Opec member Qatar, according to data from the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission.

儘管它們各自分散，而且不成規模（平均日產量不到2桶），但在美國有超過40萬口這樣的油井，佔美國石油產量的11%左右。根據州際油氣協定委員會(Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission)的最新數據，2012年這些低產井的日產量爲70萬桶，與石油輸出國組織(Opec，簡稱：歐佩克)成員國卡塔爾的產量相當。

Now, with the price of US crude below $60 per barrel — down 46 per cent from levels six months ago — some operators plan to idle their stripper wells. Widespread closures could help balance the oversupplied global oil market and stabilise prices.

如今，隨着美國油價跌破每桶60美元，較6個月前下跌46%，一些運營商已計劃把他們的低產井閒置起來。大量這類油井關閉，可能有助於平衡供應過度的全球石油市場並穩定油價。

Melvin Moran, whose company owns stripper wells in Oklahoma, said it costs thousands of dollars a year to keep one pumping.

梅爾文•莫蘭(Melvin Moran)的公司擁有俄克拉荷馬州的低產井，他表示，每年需要數千美元來維持一口低產井的運營。

Mark Thomas has two companies that operate 100 stripper wells in Arkansas state with total production of 300 b/d. “Some of those will be shut in, probably within 90 days,” he said last week.

馬克•托馬斯(Mark Thomas)有兩家公司，在阿肯色州運營着100口低產井，總產量爲每日300桶。他上週表示：“一些油井可能會在90天內被關閉。”

Mr Thomas said it now costs “in the “high $30s” per barrel to lift oil from the ground. The Lion Oil refinery near his wells in El Dorado, Arkansas last week offered $41 per barrel for extra heavy crude and $52.25 for sweet crude. This suggests razor-thin profit margins for local producers.

托馬斯表示，現在石油開採成本在每桶“近40美元”。在他位於阿肯色州埃爾多拉多的油井附近的煉油廠Lion Oil，上週對超重原油的報價爲每桶41美元，輕質原油爲52.25美元。這表明當地產油商的利潤率極薄。

Oil analysts have been focused on new investment, such as shale drilling, as they handicap which producers will cut back. They say that because stripper wells’ expenditures are mainly operating costs such as electricity and maintenance, their owners are less sensitive to oil prices than companies exploring for oil.

石油分析師們表示，由於低產井的支出主要爲運營成本，例如電力和維護，相對於石油勘探企業，這些油井的所有者對於油價不那麼敏感。

Operators will decide “whether they really want or need the cash flow,” said Trisha Curtis of the Energy Policy Research Foundation in Washington. Like bigger producers, stripper well operators need to be convinced lower prices will persist before idling production, said Michael Wittner, oil analyst at Société Générale. Simply shutting a well can cost several thousands dollars, so some wells will keep flowing, he said.

華盛頓能源政策研究基金會( Energy Policy Research Foundation)的特麗莎•柯蒂斯(Trisha Curtis)表示，運營商們將決定“它們是否真的需要現金流。”興業銀行(Société Générale)石油分析師邁克爾•威特納(Michael Wittner)表示，與規模較大的生產商一樣，低產井運營商只有確信油價將長期低迷，纔會閒置產能。他表示，關閉一口油井可能會帶來數千美元的損失，因此一些油井將繼續運營。

But stripper wells “operate on the lower edge of profitability,” according to the IOGCC.

但州際油氣協定委員會稱，低產油井的“利潤率處於較低水平”。