全球氦气供应短缺

A global shortage of helium, the lighter-than-air gas, has put a stop to the sale of inflatable Mickey Mouse heads at Disneyland in Tokyo, threatened parades during the US Thanksgiving holiday and disrupted university research.

全球氦气供应出现短缺，不仅导致东京迪士尼乐园(Disneyland)米老鼠(Mickey Mouse)头像气球断货，给美国感恩节期间的庆祝游行带来了麻烦，还对大学的研究工作造成了干扰。氦气是一种比空气轻的气体。

Global production of helium – used in industrial and medical applications, as well as toy dirigibles – has sharply fallen this year in the US and Algeria, the two biggest exporters.

全球两大氦气出口国——美国和阿尔及利亚——今年的氦气产量大幅下降。工业、医疗领域以及玩具充气飞艇都会使用到氦气。

Companies in Japan, the world’s leading helium importer, say they are looking to tap alternative, but more expensive, sources of supply in Qatar, Russia and Poland.

全球主要氦气进口国日本的企业表示，它们正将目光投向卡塔尔、俄罗斯和波兰等国的替代供应来源，不过这些来源的氦气价格较高。

However, because the supply disruptions come as demand in China and India is rising, the global market remains “tight, said Shi Quan, a trader in Shanghai. The squeeze represents the second big shortage for the $500m helium market in five years, after glitches in 2007 at a plant owned by ExxonMobil. Now, the focus is again the US, which provided almost four-fifths of the 180m cubic metres of helium consumed around the world last year.

然而，驻上海的交易员石泉（音译）表示，由于此次供应中断正值中国和印度氦气需求增长，因此全球氦气市场依然“吃紧。这一“吃紧意味着，价值5亿美元的氦气市场出现五年来的第二次严重供应短缺。2007年，埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)旗下一家工厂的生产出现问题，造成全球氦气供应严重短缺。如今，人们关注的焦点再次转向美国。去年全球消耗的1.80亿立方米氦气中，由美国供应的占到将近五分之四。

The shortfall has been triggered by maintenance of ageing US installations, including a pipeline system that connects a helium-rich natural gasfield in Amarillo, Texas, with processing plants.

此次氦气短缺的原因，是美国对日益老化的设施所做的维护工作，包括维护一个把美国得克萨斯州阿马里洛氦气储量丰富的天然气田与氦气加工厂连接起来的管道系统。

In Algeria, too, supplies of helium have dropped alongside shipments of liquefied natural gas to Europe. Helium in Algeria is extracted during the liquefaction of natural gas, so when demand for LNG drops, as this year because of the economic crisis in Europe, helium production also drops.

在阿尔及利亚，氦气供应以及对欧洲的液化天然气发运量也出现下降。阿尔及利亚的氦气是在天然气液化时从中提取出来的，因此，当液化天然气需求下滑时（就像今年这样，因欧洲经济危机而导致天然气需求下滑），氦气产量也会随之下降。

Helium prices have risen steadily over the last decade. In the US, benchmark helium prices have risen this year $84 per million cubic feet, up nearly 70 per cent from the $49.5 per mcf in 2000, according to the US Bureau of Land Management.

过去10年，氦气价格一直稳步上涨。美国土地管理局(US Bureau of Land Management)的数据显示，在美国，基准的氦气价格今年涨至每千立方英尺(MCF) 84美元，较2000年的49.5美元高出近70%。

Industry executives believe that prices would need to increase significantly more to spur the development of more supplies, probably through expensive technologies for extraction of the gas.

行业高管认为，氦气价格需要进一步大幅上涨，才能刺激氦气供应的开发——很可能通过成本高昂的天然气开采技术实现。

Japanese importers are struggling to adjust. Two weeks ago Saitama-based distributor Daito Gas said it could take no more orders for helium after shipments came to a halt.

日本进口商很难适应现在的情况。两周前，总部位于埼玉的分销商Daito Gas表示，由于供货暂停，该公司无法再接受更多的氦气订单。

Last week Oriental Land, operator of the Disney resort east of Tokyo, suspended sales of helium-filled balloons for the first time.

上周，东京东部迪士尼度假区的运营商东方乐园(Oriental Land)首次暂停了氦气球的销售。

Additional reporting by Javier Blas in New York and Leslie Hook in Beijing

英国《金融时报》哈维尔·布拉斯(Javier Blas)纽约、何丽(Leslie Hook)北京补充报道