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A Venezuelan oil minister once referred to his country's main export as the "devil's excrement." We'll see how the death of Hugo Chavez affects production levels of this Faustian fuel—which influences both the global oil market and the climate.
委内瑞拉的一名石油部长曾把自己国家的主要出口称为“魔鬼的粪便”。我们将看到乌戈· 查韦斯的逝世会如何影响这种“浮士德式”的石油生产水平，进而影响全球石油市场和气候。
Venezuela's oil has problematic qualities. The thick, tar-like oil requires extra heat to flow. Once finally on the move, it's fed to refineries where the heavy oil must be what the engineers call "cracked." That chemical process removes excess carbon and readies the oil to be turned into the petroleum products we all use, from gasoline to plastics. The extra carbon, known as pet coke, is often burned and is more highly polluting than even coal.
委内瑞拉的石油质量有问题。这种石油浓稠、类似于柏油，要使它流动需要额外的热量。石油流入炼油厂后，工程师们就会忙着“裂化”这种重油。这个化学过程能够去除多余的碳，将石油转变为大家都能使用的汽油。多余的碳被称作石油焦，常被烧掉，它造成的污染甚至比煤更严重。
These issues affect more than Venezuela. The Keystone XL pipeline is a bid in part to bring oil from Canada's tar sands to some refineries on the Gulf Coast that can handle it precisely because they were built to handle Venezuela's tarry mix. If more Venezuelan oil begins to flow the Keystone pipeline might prove extraneous.
不仅委内瑞拉受到这些问题的影响。美国的输油管道项目计划将加拿大的沥青砂加工成石油，然后输入到墨西哥湾岸区的一些炼油厂进行加工。这些炼油厂业务熟练，因为当初建厂就是用来处理委内瑞拉的煤焦油混合物。如果委内瑞拉有更多的石油流入美国，那么输油管道项目就变得多余了。
But whether Canadian tar sands or Venezuelan heavy crude, more thick oil means more CO2 in the atmosphere. And that means a climate ever more hellish.
然而无论是加拿大沥青砂还是委内瑞拉的重油，成分越稠就意味着大气中的二氧化碳会变得更多，也意味着气候会变得更加恶劣。
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