北极航线为液化气油轮赴亚洲开辟捷径

A tanker full of chilled natural gas is about to complete a trip through the Arctic Ocean to Asia, as a combination of climate change, the shale-gas revolution and the earthquake in Japan opens a potentially disruptive trade route.

一艘满载液化天然气的油轮即将完成穿越北冰洋之旅并驶抵亚洲。气候变化、页岩气革命和日本地震等因素加在一起打开了一条原本可能受阻的贸易航线。

The tanker Ob River is scheduled to deliver a cargo of Norwegian gas to energy-starved Japan on Tuesday after traveling from Norway through the Arctic above Russia. The trip takes three weeks less than it would if the gas took its normal route though the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal and around Asia.

从挪威出发、穿行俄罗斯以北的北极地区之后，“鄂毕河号油轮(Ob River)计划在周二将运载的挪威天然气运送至能源匮乏的日本。相比行经地中海、苏伊士运河并绕行亚洲多国的常规线路，现在这条航线能够缩短三周的航程。

Three disparate events made the trip feasible and profitable. Climate change has meant ships can pass through the Arctic during the summer. A flood of U.S. shale gas helped push down prices in Europe, and higher demand in Asia, in part due to the Japanese earthquake, has made chilling and liquefying European gas for shipment to Asia economic.

三大独立因素使得这条航线可行且有利可图：气候变化意味着船只可以在夏季穿行北极；美国页岩气产量激增帮助压低了欧洲的天然气价格；亚洲需求上升（部分原因是日本地震）令冷却液化欧洲天然气并运送至亚洲国家变得有利可图。

Higher insurance expenses and the cost of an icebreaker to accompany the tanker are offset by the fact that a shorter voyage means a shorter lease period for the tanker.

虽然保险费用上升，且租赁破冰船为油轮护航需要成本，但这些费用被航期缩短带来的好处抵消。航期缩短意味着油轮的租赁期也将缩短。

Gazprom Marketing and Trading Ltd., a unit of Russian gas firm OAO Gazprom, OGZPY +0.68% is behind the project to send an initial cargo of deep-chilled liquefied natural gas from Norway's Hammerfest Snohvit LNG project to Japanese utility Kyushu Electric Power Co. 9508.TO -5.31% Inc. Gas must be chilled under pressure to convert it into a liquid so that it can be shipped by tanker.

俄罗斯天然气公司OAO Gazprom的下属企业Gazprom Marketing and Trading Ltd.是这一创举的幕后推手。这是有关企业首次将产自挪威天然气项目Hammerfest Snohvit LNG的天然气经深度冷却液化之后运送给日本公用事业企业九州电力(Kyushu Electric Power Co. Inc.)。天然气经加压冷却转化成液体之后才能通过油轮运送。

Gazprom, a big supplier of gas to Europe, already sells some gas to Asia. It is working toward ramping up its sales there.

Gazprom是欧洲的天然气大型供应商。该公司已经向亚洲出售天然气，其当前目标是提升在亚洲的销售。

Gazprom chartered the ice-class LNG tanker Ob River from the Greek company Dynagas. Its hull has been reinforced to make the journey through the icy waters of the Northern Sea Route, according to a Gazprom executive.The vessel is due to arrive at Tobata in southern Japan on Tuesday, the executiveand other Gazprom officials said.

Gazprom向希腊公司Dynagas租赁了冰级液化天然气(LNG)油轮“鄂毕河号。据Gazprom一位高管介绍，“鄂毕河号船体已经得到加固，使其能够应付北海航线(Northern Sea Route)冰冷的海水。这位高管及Gazprom其它负责人说，这艘船定于周二抵达日本南部港口户钿(Tobata)。

The LNG was shipped in early November from an LNG plant that Statoil ASA STL.OS -0.57% operates at Melkoya, in Hammerfest in northern Norway, Statoil said. The company declined to provide further details because it doesn't own the cargo.

挪威国家石油公司(Statoil ASA)说，这批液化天然气今年11月初从该公司在挪威北部港口城市哈默费斯特的梅尔科亚(Melkoya)运营的一个液化天然气工厂启程。挪威国家石油公司拒绝提供进一步细节，因为该公司并不拥有这批货物。

Whether the month-long route, which is navigable for only a few months each year, can prove economically viable in the longer term remains unclear. Only a handful of ice-class LNG tankers have been constructed.

这条航程长达一个月的航线在中长期能否做到有利可图目前还不清楚。这条航线每年只有几个月的通航时间。目前已建成的冰级液化天然气油轮很少。

Also, gas sellers could face tough competition, including from North America once export terminals are built in Western Canada, allowing exports to flow across the North Pacific.

此外，天然气销售商可能面临激烈的竞争，其中包括来自北美的竞争。一旦加拿大西部的出口港口建成，来自北美的天然气可以出口至北太平洋地区。

Low-cost North American gas is already displacing coal used by utilities in the U.S. and Canada. That coal is instead being shipped to Europe and displacing expensive natural gas, much of which normally comes from Russia or Norway.

北美廉价天然气已经在取代美国和加拿大公用事业单位使用的煤炭。煤炭则被运送到欧洲取代昂贵的天然气。欧洲的很大一部分天然气通常都来自俄罗斯或挪威。

Lower European gas prices have implications for Russia's plan to sell gas via a pipeline to China. Russia has argued for a price based on European levels, something China has rejected. But falling European gas prices may make a deal easier.

欧洲天然气降价对俄罗斯通过一条管道向中国销售天然气的计划有着深远的意义。俄罗斯曾主张以欧洲价格为基础来定价，遭中国拒绝。欧洲天然气价格的下降可能会使双方更容易达成一致。

The pipeline may be discussed in a meeting between outgoing Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev this week.

即将卸任的中国总理温家宝本周将同俄罗斯总理梅德韦杰夫(Dmitry Medvedev)会晤，双方可能会谈起管道问题。

Kyushu Electric didn't immediately respond to queries about the tanker's impending arrival.

九州电力没有马上回复有关油轮即将到港的问题。

Russia, one of the world's biggest gas producers, is looking to Asian gas markets as it faces falling margins and weakening demand for its relatively expensive gas in Europe, its economically sluggish key market. European gas demand fell by 18 billion cubic meters this year.

俄罗斯是世界上最大的天然气出产国之一。由于利润率下降，同时相对昂贵的俄罗斯天然气在其关键市场欧洲的需求减弱，俄罗斯把目光投向了亚洲天然气市常欧洲经济疲软，今年的天然气需求减少了180亿立方米。

Last year, Vladimir Putin, then Russia's prime minister, described the Arctic route to Asia as a future 'international transport artery' able to compete with other maritime routes on fees, safety and quality.

去年，时任俄罗斯总理普京(Vladimir Putin)将经由北极至亚洲的航线称为将来的“国际交通要道，认为它的费用、安全性和质量都可与其他海上航线竞争。

'The Arctic reached its lowest annual sea-ice extent since the start of satellite records on 16 September at 3.41 million square kilometers,' or 1.32 million square miles, the World Meteorological Organization, an agency of the United Nations, said in a statement to negotiators at the UN Climate Change Conference in Doha last week.

联合国机构世界气象组织(World Meteorological Organization)上周向出席多哈联合国气候变化大会的谈判代表发表声明说，9月16日，北极年度海冰面积降至341万平方公里，为有卫星记录以来最低。

'January-October 2012 has been the ninth warmest such period since records began in 1850,' the meteorological organization added.

世界气象组织还说，2012年1至10月的气温在1850年开始有记录以来的同期气温中排在第九高的位置。

The Barents Observer, a news website run by the Norwegian Barents Secretariat in Kirkenes, Norway, says the number of vessels making the Arctic passage has risen steadily, from four in 2010, to 34 in 2011. At least 46 have made the trip this year.

据挪威巴伦支海秘书处(Norwegian Barents Secretariat)在挪威希尔克内斯运营的资讯网站“巴伦支海观察家(Barents Observer)报道，穿越北极通道的船只数量稳步上升，2010年为四艘，2011年达到34艘。今年至少已经有46艘船只穿越这条通道。

The Secretariat works to develop relations between Russia and Norway.

挪威巴伦支海秘书处的职责是发展俄罗斯与挪威的关系。

An LNG tanker cost as much as $150,000 a day to charter in the second quarter, and around $105,000 a day in November. A company sending gas from the North Sea to North Asia could save up to $3 million using the Arctic passage, not accounting for expenses like hiring icebreakers.

第二季度一艘液化气船的最高租赁价格是15万美元一天，11月份为一天10.5万美元左右。从北海输送天然气到北亚，如果不计算租用破冰船等费用，最高可以省下300万美元。

'You don't have to go through the Suez, that charges tolls, or go along the African coast, which is probably three times longer,' said Hidetoshi Shioda, an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities.

SMBC日兴证券(SMBC Nikko Securities)分析师Hidetoshi Shioda说，不需要经过收过路费的苏伊士运河，也不需要经过路线可能要长三倍的非洲沿岸。