俄羅斯能源業在東方尋找新夥伴

For an industry that is supposed to be struggling to find cash and partners due to crippling western sanctions, Russia’s energy sector is showing few signs of feeling abandoned.

因爲嚴厲西方制裁而本該很難找到資金和合作夥伴的俄羅斯能源行業，並沒有表現出多少感覺被拋棄的跡象。

Six years after Rosneft marked a new high watermark in US-Russian corporate relations by agreeing a co-operation deal with ExxonMobil, the Kremlin-controlled oil company has found alternate support from the east. CEFC China Energy agreed last month to pay $9.1bn for a 14.16 per cent stake in Rosneft — and it is not the only Russian company to find new friends in China.

6年前，俄羅斯石油公司(Rosneft)與埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)達成一項合作協議，曾把美俄企業合作推到一個新高度。如今，這家俄羅斯政府控制的石油公司已在東方找到了替代性的支持。不久前，中國華信能源(CEFC China Energy,簡稱“華信”)同意支付91億美元，收購俄羅斯石油公司14.16%的股權。俄羅斯石油公司並非第一家在中國找到新朋友的俄羅斯公司。

Chinese companies are snapping up stakes and signing joint venture agreements across Russia’s energy sector. And they have competition — Saudi Arabia’s new-found political friendship with Russia has started yielding corporate agreements, too.

中國企業正在收購俄羅斯能源行業各家公司的股權，與它們簽訂組建合資企業的協議。並且它們面臨競爭——沙特與俄羅斯最新建立的政治友誼，也開始結出公司合作協議的果實。

Hit by US and EU sanctions after its 2014 invasion of Crimea, Moscow has turned to Beijing for friendship and finance. Assistance was both necessary and geopolitically expedient: New York and London are not the only places with banks, went the message. Then when oil prices fell to historic lows two years later, cutting a deal with Saudi — the world’s other crude-exporting superpower — to reduce production helped reverse the slide and ease struggling fiscal budget calculations.

在2014年入侵克里米亞之後遭到歐美製裁衝擊的俄羅斯，已轉向中國尋求友誼和資金。尋求幫助不但必要，而且也有地緣政治上的意義：其中傳達出的意思是，並非只有紐約和倫敦有銀行。接着，當油價在兩年後降至歷史低點時，俄羅斯與世界上另一個原油出口超級大國沙特達成一項減產協議，幫助逆轉了油價下跌，並緩解了財政預算緊張擔憂。

But while sanctions may have prompted the agreements, business realities help explain Chinese and Saudi corporate partnerships. For Chinese energy companies, Russia offers both vast resource supply and handy proximity. For Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom’s state-owned hydrocarbon giant, Russia offers potential partners struggling with the same existential business quandaries — how to extract more for less, and tackle the threat of alternative energy sources.

儘管也許是制裁催生了這些協議，但俄羅斯企業與中國和沙特企業達成合作關係部分是出於商業現實因素。對中國能源企業而言，俄羅斯不但提供了巨大的資源供應，而且其距離中國很近。對沙特國有油氣巨頭沙特阿美(Saudi Aramco)而言，俄羅斯提供了潛在合作伙伴，這些合作伙伴與之處於同樣的生死攸關的商業困境——如何以更低成本開採更多資源，如何應對替代能源的威脅。

China needs energy and power to fuel its growth, and shares a 4,200km border with Russia. For the Russians, having a major customer in the east makes good business sense: oil and gas from fields in the far east would need to be pumped across as many as 11 time zones and 7,000km worth of frozen tundra, forests and mountains to reach Europe. China is next door and, as a bonus, has cash to invest in capex-heavy drilling projects.

中國需要能源和電力來推動自身增長，中俄之間的邊界線長達4200公里。對俄羅斯而言，在東方擁有一個大客戶具有重要商業意義：遠東地區的油氣需要跨越11個時區和7000公里的凍原、森林以及高山才能運抵歐洲。中國則是俄羅斯的鄰國，而且還有一個好處——中國擁有資金，可以投資於資本性支出消耗很大的鑽井工程。

Over the past 18 months, Chinese companies have spent more than $14bn on Russian energy projects. China now owns stakes in Russia’s largest oil company, petrochemical group and gold producer. By next month, CEFC will add a $500m investment in energy-to-aluminium business EN+ as part of the company’s $1.5bn listing in the London. “The Chinese think long-term, they think very strategically,” said a person involved in one of the investments. “They want access to the resources, but they are also thinking about partnerships that will last decades.”

過去一年半里，中國企業已在俄羅斯能源項目上投入了逾140億美元。目前，中國擁有俄羅斯最大石油公司、石化集團和黃金生產商的股權。到下個月，中國華信能源將對業務涵蓋能源和鋁業的EN+再投資5億美元，這是EN+在倫敦上市融資15億美元計劃的一部分。“中國公司着眼於長遠，他們非常有戰略頭腦，”一位參與這些投資項目之一的人士說，“他們想獲得資源，但他們也在考慮將延續數十年之久的合作關係。”

In Riyadh, energy executives share the same fears as their opposite numbers in Moscow. A future world of $50-a-barrel crude prices means drilling, pumping and refining must become more efficient and less expensive. It is no surprise that one of dozens of corporate agreements signed during King Salman bin Abdulaziz’s state visit to Moscow last week was for Aramco and Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Moscow-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom, to collaborate on research and development.

在利雅得，能源公司高官們有着跟莫斯科同行們相同的擔心。原油價格爲每桶50美元的未來世界，意味着鑽井、泵送和精煉必須提高效率，降低成本。難怪在上週沙特國王薩勒曼?本?阿卜杜勒-阿齊茲(Salman bin Abdulaziz)對俄羅斯進行國事訪問期間簽訂的數十份公司協議之中，有一份是沙特阿美與國有天然氣壟斷企業俄羅斯天然氣工業股份公司(Gazprom)的石油業務子公司Gazprom Neft達成的研發合作協議。

“This is just the beginning,” said Ibrahim Al-Omar, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority. “We are [in Russia] to meet people, to shake hands, to find all the ways in which companies from our two countries can work together,” he said. “There is vast potential.”

“這僅僅是開始，”沙特投資總局(SAGIA)局長易卜拉欣?阿爾-奧馬爾(Ibrahim Al-Omar)說。“我們（在俄羅斯）會見各路人馬，握手，尋找一切能讓兩國企業達成合作的途徑，”他說，“這裏存在巨大潛力。”

Three years ago, western sanctions imperilled the Arctic LNG project in Russia’s northern Yamal peninsula owned by Russia’s Novatek and France’s Total. Chinese finance came to the rescue with a $12bn package. Today, Russian officials are keen for Saudi companies to play their part in a second iteration of the project, Nord Stream 2. The gas pipeline to Europe is being built by Gazprom, but five EU energy companies have agreed to finance half of its cost.

三年前，西方制裁殃及由俄羅斯諾瓦泰克(Novatek)和法國道達爾(Total)共同擁有的、位於俄羅斯北部亞馬爾(Yamal)半島的北極液化天然氣(LNG)項目。中國提供的120億美元一攬子融資拯救了該項目。如今，俄羅斯官員很希望沙特企業參與北溪-2(Nord Stream 2)項目。目前，Gazprom正在修建這條通往歐洲的天然氣管道，但五家歐盟能源企業已同意承擔項目總成本的一半。

Gazprom appears unflustered by the prospect. “In addition to Europe, the Asia-Pacific Region also exists, and certain funds can be borrowed from there,” said chairman Viktor Zubkov last month. US and European energy companies have long been Russia’s go-to partners and financiers for major energy projects. But that relationship may well be coming to an end.

Gazprom似乎對前景很鎮定。“除了歐洲，還有亞太地區，我們可以從那裏借來一定數額的資金，”Gazprom董事長維克托?祖布科夫(Viktor Zubkov)上月說。長期以來，歐美能源公司一直是俄羅斯在大型能源項目中的可靠合作伙伴和資金提供方。但這種關係很可能正走向終結。