An OPEC-style cartel for gas would kill the very market it would aim to control.
个欧佩克(OPEC)式的天然气卡特尔组织会毁掉其企图控制的市场。
The Gas Exporting Countries Forum met Monday in Algeria. But after some stirringrhetoric about raising global natural-gas prices, the group discounted any coordinated production cuts for now.
天然气出口国论坛(The Gas Exporting Countries Forum)周一在阿尔及利亚开会。但在就提高全球天然气价格发表了一些激动人心的说辞后，该组织眼下未考虑任何协同减产事宜。
Gas exporters are hurting because liquefied natural gas, which can be shipped independently of pipelines, now accounts for 10% of global supply. That enables greater competition. Also, America's shale-gas revolution, coinciding with recession, has left the market oversupplied.
天然气出口商正受其害，因无需经管道运输的液化天然气目前占全球供应的10%。这种情况会引发竞争加剧。同时，美国革命性的页岩气技术恰逢经济大衰退，导致市场供应过剩。
Yet OPEC's experience carries three lessons for any budding gas cartel. First, there is the cost of coordination. OPEC works because Saudi Arabia is prepared to invest in, and carry the opportunity cost of, spare capacity. Who would do this for gas is unclear. Russia's record of investment wouldn't foster much confidence. Qatar, meanwhile, can withstand lower gas prices, anyway.
而欧佩克的经历为任何初建的天然气卡特尔组织带来三大教训。首先是协调成本。欧佩克之所以发挥作用是因为沙特愿意投资闲置产能，并承担由此引发的机会成本。而天然气组织中谁来承担这个角色尚不得而知。俄罗斯的投资记录不会增加太多信心。而卡塔尔则经受得起天然气价格下滑。
Higher prices, meanwhile, encourage competing supplies. The 1970s oil shocks made Alaska and the North Sea viable oil provinces. OPEC's market share, then two-thirds, is 40% today. And higher prices earlier this decade made U.S. shale gas viable.
同时，价格上调会引发供应急剧增加。上世纪70年代的石油危机使得阿拉斯加及北海成为产油区。那时欧佩克的市场份额为三分之二，而目前是40%。而在本世纪之初，价格上涨使得美国页岩气供应成为可能。
Perhaps the biggest problem, though, is that you can't influence global prices by controlling marginal supply without a truly global gas market. The latter, facilitated by LNG cargoes, remains some way off. Imposing a cartel now would set back that trend. It also would undermine gas's role as a 'bridge' between fossil fuels and renewable energy. Trying to establish a cartel now would kill the opportunity for forming one in the future, when it might indeed be viable.
但最大的问题可能是，缺乏一个真正的全球性天然气市场，就无法通过控制边际供应来影响全球价格。受液化天然气货运的影响，要形成这样一个市场尚需时日。而目前成立一个天然气卡特尔组织，将会令这个趋势更为推迟，同时，还会削弱天然气作为石油与可再生能源之间的桥梁的作用。目前成立一个天然气卡特尔组织的尝试，会扼杀将来时机成熟时形成此类组织的机会。
Liam Denning
- competition [,kɔmpi´tiʃən]
n.比赛；竞争 (初中词汇) - invest [in´vest] v.投资；授予 (初中词汇)
- capacity [kə´pæsiti] n.容量；智能；能力 (初中词汇)
- investment [in´vestmənt] n.投资；(时间等)投入 (初中词汇)
- meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中词汇)
- encourage [in´kʌridʒ] vt.鼓励；怂勇；促进 (初中词汇)
- energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中词汇)
- foster [´fɔstə] vt.促进；推动；鼓励 (高中词汇)
- alaska [ə´læskə] n.阿拉斯加(州) (高中词汇)
- decade [´dekeid] n.十年(间) (高中词汇)
- stirring [´stə:riŋ] a.活跃的；热闹的 (四级词汇)
- arabia [ə´reibiə] n.阿拉伯 (四级词汇)
- withstand [wið´stænd] vt.抵抗，经得起 (四级词汇)
- marginal [´mɑ:dʒinəl] a.有旁注的；边缘的 (四级词汇)
- fossil [´fɔsəl] n.老顽固 a.化石的 (四级词汇)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (四级词汇)
- rhetoric [´retərik] n.修辞学(书)；辩术 (六级词汇)
- independently [,indi´pendəntli] ad.独立地；自由地 (六级词汇)
- imposing [im´pəuziŋ] a.壮丽的，堂皇的 (六级词汇)
- undermine [,ʌndə´main] vt.在...下面掘地道 (六级词汇)
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