储油设施不足制约中国扩充战略石油储备

A shortage of storage may force China to curb purchases of crude oil for its strategic reserves, according to a high-ranking representative of the state oil company Sinopec.

中石化(Sinopec)的一名高级代表透露，存储设施的短缺可能迫使中国减少为补充战略储备购买原油。

The world’s largest oil importer bought a record amount of crude at the end of last year, as oil prices plunged. But the country has been unable to fully take advantage of low International crude prices to build strategic reserves because of insufficient storage capacity.

随着油价暴跌，中国这个全球最大的石油进口国在去年底购买了创纪录数量的原油。但由于存储容量不足，中国无法充分利用较低的国际原油价格来充实战略储备。

Chen Bo, president of Unipec, the trading arm of Chinese state oil company Sinopec, told an oil industry conference on Wednesday that Chinese import demand this year would likely stay flat or rise only slightly as available storage is close to full.

中国国有石油公司中石化的交易子公司——联合石化(Unipec)的总经理陈波周三在一个石油行业会议上表示，中国今年的进口需求很可能保持平稳或只是轻微上升，原因是可用存储空间已接近全满。

Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank said: “Although new storage capacities are being built, they are not yet available. Consequently, China is likely to import considerably less crude oil in the near future.” This could weigh on prices, he added.

德国商业银行(Commerzbank)分析师卡斯腾•弗里奇(Carsten Fritsch)表示：“虽然新的存储容量正在建造中，但它们尚未可用。因此，中国原油进口量很可能在短期内显著减少。”他补充说，这可能打压油价。

China took advantage of a plunge in international crude prices to almost six-year lows at the end of the year to buy oil. December net imports rose to 7.1m barrels a day, from 6.3m b/d the same month the year before, according to customs data.

去年底，中国借国际原油价格暴跌至近六年低点之机，大量买入石油。海关数据显示，12月的净进口升至每日710万桶，高于上年同期的每日630万桶。

In January they stood at 6.6m b/d, in line with the prior year, and 6.7m b/d in February, up from 6m b/d the year before.

1月，中国的石油净进口达到每日660万桶，同比持平；2月净进口达到每日670万桶，高于上年同期的每日600万桶。

“These numbers are still strong, but underlying demand is a bit weaker. Although gasoline demand has increased, demand for diesel and other fuels used in industry has fallen,” said Abhishek Deshpande, oil analyst at Natixis.

“这些数字仍然相当强劲，但根本需求稍稍弱一些。虽然汽油需求有所增加，但柴油和其它工业用燃料的需求有所下降，”法国外贸银行(Natixis)石油分析师阿布舍克•德什潘德(Abhishek Deshpande)表示。

“In turn, refineries have processed far less crude in recent months and a lot of this has gone into storage,” he said.

“这进而意味着，炼油厂在最近几个月处理的原油少得多，很大一部分原油进了库存，”他说。

China last year announced it held 91m barrels in four locations in its first phase of strategic petroleum reserves. A second phase is in the process of being filled while a third phase is under construction, and Beijing has not released figures for the volumes of crude held in those tanks.

中国去年宣布，国家石油储备一期工程已经完成，在4个国家石油储备基地储备原油9100万桶。二期工程正在注油，三期工程正在建设中，北京方面尚未公布这两期工程的储油量。

Strategic reserves in the northern port city of Tianjin appear to be already full, Tom Reed, editor at oil industry publication Argus Media, told the FT at a conference.

石油行业刊物《阿格斯媒体》(Argus Media)主编汤姆•里德(Tom Reed)在一个会议上告诉英国《金融时报》，华北港口城市天津的战略储备似乎已经满了。

A slowdown in SPR fills would run counter to expectations of the International Energy Agency, which in a March report said China was “expected to again stockpile crude in 2015” as new storage capacity is completed.

中国的战略石油储备注油放缓，将与国际能源署(IEA)的预测相反，后者在3月的一份报告中表示，随着新的存储容量完工，中国“有望在2015年再度大量储备原油”。

Although China is also adding commercial storage capacity, the oil price slump may discourage state oil companies from stocking up.

尽管中国也在增加商业存储容量，但油价暴跌可能抑制国有石油公司扩充库存的积极性。

This week, Sinopec reported a loss in the fourth quarter and warned its first-quarter profits were “estimated to be in the vicinity of the break-even” thanks in large part to the decline in market value of crude inventories purchased at higher prices.

中石化本周报告第四季度亏损，并警告第一季度的利润“估计是在盈亏平衡点附近”，很大一部分原因就是早些时候以较高价格采购的原油库存的市场价值下降。