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This week, Cnooc announced plans to reduce capital spending as the government and large state-owned enterprises respond to the collapse in oil prices. China’s third-largest oil producer said it would cut development spending by 67 per cent and, albeit less dramatically, reduce exploration and production capital expenditure.
随着中国政府和大型国有企业对油价暴跌做出反应，中海油(CNOOC)本周宣布了削减资本支出的计划。这家中国第三大石油生产商表示，开发投资、勘探投资和生产资本化投资都将大幅削减。
At the same time, the Beijing government and refiners such as Zhuhai Zhenrong have increased their purchases of crude oil to record levels. Sinopec, another big state-owned energy enterprise, opened up a tank farm for crude oil on the resort island of Hainan in November.
与此同时，中国政府和珠海振戎(Zhuhai Zhenrong)等精炼商将原油采购量提升至创纪录的水平。去年11月，另一家大型国有能源企业中石化(Sinopec)，在度假胜地海南岛上兴建的一座原油储备基地投入试运行。
These apparently contradictory signals reflect changes in the sources of growth in a slowing Chinese economy and show how the government and corporate China are exploiting the collapse to reduce their longer-term vulnerability to price swings in the volatile energy market.
这些看似矛盾的信号，反映出中国日益放缓的经济中增长来源的改变，同时表明中国政府和企业正在利用油价暴跌的机会，来降低它们应对震荡市场中价格波动的长期脆弱性。
It is easy to understand why Cnooc is cutting back spending. The economy is growing slightly below the level the cadres have commanded and slowed to 7.1 per cent in the final quarter of 2014. Reinforcing that trend is the fact that the energy intensity of Chinese production has gone down. Chinese crude oil demand per unit of gross domestic product has been dropping by 4.3 per cent a year since 2005, according to data from JPMorgan Private Bank.
很容易理解中海油为何要削减支出。中国经济增速略低于官员们要求的水平，在2014年最后一个季度放缓至7.1%。让这种趋势更加明显的是，中国的单位产值能耗已经下降。摩根大通私人银行(JPMorgan Private Bank)的数据显示，中国每单位GDP的原油需求自2005年以来每年下降4.3%。
Moreover, as the sources of growth shift slowly from manufacturing to services and from exports to domestic demand, that drop will probably accelerate, making further oil capex cuts likely — and shareholders happier.
此外，随着增长来源逐步从制造业转向服务业，以及从出口转向内需，能耗下降很可能会加速，从而导致石油资本支出进一步被削减（这回股东们更高兴了）。
But China is also looking ahead and taking advantage of the speedy and unexpected reversal in the oil price.
但中国也在着眼于未来，利用油价走势快速且意料之外的逆转带来的机会。
The increase in demand for crude on the mainland comes because China is exploiting lower oil prices to dramatically boost its storage capacity for both commercial and strategic reasons. By doing so, it will address one of its perennial weaknesses, its reliance on imported energy, and make itself more competitive.
中国内地对原油的需求增加，因为中国利用油价下跌的机会，大幅提高商业和战略储备能力。中国这么做将会解决长期困扰自己的一个问题——对进口能源的依赖——并让自己变得更有竞争力。
The move comes at a moment when pessimism about Chinese prospects generally is on the rise. That downbeat attitude reflects chronic excess capacity, an overbuilt property market and concerns about a corporate sector that has borrowed too much, whether in renminbi or appreciating US dollars.
在中国提高原油储备能力之际，外界日益对中国经济前景感到悲观。这种悲观态度反映了长期的产能过剩、过度建设的房地产市场以及对过度借贷（无论借的是人民币还是日益升值的美元）的企业部门的担忧。
The way China is taking advantage of the declining oil price also suggests that some of the pessimism is unwarranted. The dramatic expansion in commercial and strategic holdings of crude while the price is half of what it was just months ago is only part of the story. The government is also increasing taxes rather than passing on the full benefit of bargain fuel prices to consumers.
中国利用油价下跌的方式也表明，某些悲观情绪没有必要。商业和战略原油储备大幅增加，同时价格是仅仅数月前的一半，这只是一个方面。中国政府也在增加税收，而不是将油价下跌的全部益处传递给消费者。
Those taxes will go partly to dealing with China’s monumental environmental issues, according to Miswin Mahesh, Barclays’ commodities analyst in London. That spending should be good for China and its neighbours, if the past is any guide. Up to now, Chinese growth has been good news for the rest of the world. In 1990, China’s contribution to global GDP growth was 5 per cent. Since 2010, the figure has swelled to more than 40 per cent. Its role as a crutch for world growth has become especially important as the growth rate of other emerging markets has fallen. (Last year, emerging markets as a whole grew only 4 per cent — the worst figure since 2009 — and this year may even drop slightly below that.)
巴克莱(Barclays)驻伦敦的大宗商品分析师米思文•马赫什(Miswin Mahesh)表示，那些税收将有部分用于解决中国严峻的环境问题。如果历史可以为鉴，这种支出应该有利于中国及其邻国。迄今为止，对全球其他国家来说，中国增长一直是好消息。在1990年，中国对全球GDP增长的贡献是5%。自2010年以来，这一数据升至逾40%。随着其他新兴市场增长放缓，中国作为全球增长支柱的角色变得尤其重要（去年，新兴市场整体仅增长4%——这是自2009年以来的最低水平——今年的增长甚至还会下降一些）。
China’s demand for crude is already lifting the fortunes of shippers and others. Among the biggest beneficiaries of the increase in Chinese appetite for crude is Iran, says Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst with Energy Aspects in Houston and London. Indeed, Chinese demand for oil from Iran accounts for more than India, Japan, and South Korea combined. (All these countries have received specific exemptions from US-imposed sanctions on Iran, and they may also import more than the level the waivers allow.)
中国对原油的需求已经为船运公司和其他公司带来了好运。Energy Aspects驻休斯顿和伦敦的首席原油分析师阿姆里塔•森(Amrita Sen)表示，中国原油需求增加的最大受益者包括伊朗。实际上，中国从伊朗进口原油的需求比印度、日本和韩国进口伊朗石油的总和还要多（所有这些国家都不用参与美国对伊朗的制裁，而它们进口的数量也可能高于豁免的水平）。
Earlier on, before China received permission from the US to procure Iranian oil, the country paid for its Iranian imports in renminbi. But today, Ms Sen says, the Chinese are using dollars. That benefits both sides. Tehran finds dollars more useful than renminbi as there are still controls on what Iran can do with its Chinese currency.
在美国允许中国采购伊朗石油之前的更早些时候，中国用人民币支付进口的伊朗石油。但是森表示，如今中国使用美元结算。这对双方都有利。德黑兰发现美元比人民币更有用，因为伊朗在使用人民币方面仍存在限制。
At the same time, China has clearly decided it is better to obtain real assets, such as oil, with its dollars than to purchase paper securities.
与此同时，中国显然意识到，用美元获取石油等实物资产比购买纸质证券更有利。
Right now, both US Treasuries and the US dollar look attractive, while oil does not. But China always takes the long view — and in the long term neither Treasury securities nor the greenback seem as attractive as they do today — at least as seen from Beijing.
就目前而言，美国国债和美元看起来都很有吸引力，而原油则并非如此。但中国始终着眼于长远——长期来说，美国国债和美元似乎都不如现在有吸引力，至少在北京方面看来是这样。
