【英语中国】大连漏油清除完毕 余波未平

Chinese officials declared Monday that the country's biggest oil spill ever had been cleaned up, only nine days after a pipeline burst into flames while a tanker was unloading crude in the northern China port Dalian.

Though that may seem fast, the spill was tiny compared to BP PLC's (BP) Gulf of Mexico disaster, and relatively simple to clean up. Still, cleanup efforts seemed decidedly ad hoc and the incident raises questions about China's ability to deal with a bigger spill.

Ripples from the latest oil slick continue. Authorities mobilized thousands of workers and hundreds of boats, unleashing chemical dispersants and oil-eating bacteria, while many workers used their bare hands to scoop up the gloppy waste. There was at least one death, of a firefighter who apparently drowned in oil while trying to fix a burst pipe.

Chinese authorities were already reviewing oil operations in the wake of the BP oil spill. China is just entering the kind of deep offshore oil drilling that got BP into trouble and complicated the cleanup efforts in the Gulf. Oil industry executives have been taking a second look at contingency plans and seeing if any lessons can be drawn from BP's mistakes.

All that is adding up to extra spending for the oil sector in China. On Monday, credit rating agency Moody's said: 'The explosion has negative credit implications for a sector on which we already have a negative industry outlook.'

Aside from the environmental damage, Moody's says, the accidents will end up costing oil companies more in the long term as they boost spending on safety, insurance premiums and face tougher regulatory hurdles.

For example, Cnooc Ltd. will add more safety devices on its drilling equipment, Moody's says.

But don't expect oil companies to give up drilling in challenging places. Oil demand continues to rise, especially in developing economies such as China.

Energy and metals consultancy Platts estimates that China's oil demand in June hit a record of 8.98 million barrels of oil a day, 10% more than last year.

中国官员周一宣布，中国有史以来规模最大的一次石油泄漏已经清除完毕。仅仅九天前，中国北部大连港的一艘油轮卸载原油时，一条输油管道爆炸起火。

尽管这可能看起来很迅速，但与墨西哥湾英国石油公司(BP PLC)灾难性的石油泄漏相比，大连的石油泄漏只是小巫见大巫，清除起来相对简单。尽管如此，清除工作看起来明显是权宜性的，事故引发了对中国处理更大规模漏油事故能力的疑问。

这次漏油事故的余波未平。有关部门调集了数千名工人和数百艘船只，释放化学分散剂和吃油细菌，很多工人徒手捡拾黏乎乎的污油。清除工作至少造成一人死亡──一名消防员在试图修复爆炸的油管时，溺死在石油里。

在英国石油公司的漏油事故后，中国有关部门已经在评估石油运营了。中国才刚刚进入令英国石油公司陷入困境、令墨西哥湾漏油清除工作异常艰巨的深海石油钻探领域。石油行业管理人士一直在研究应急方案，看看是否能从英国石油公司的失误中汲取任何教训。

所有这些都给中国的石油业增加了额外的支出。信用评级机构穆迪(Moody's)周一说，我们已经对石油业的前景持负面看法了，爆炸事故更是给石油业的评级带来了负面影响。

穆迪说，除环境破坏外，事故将增加石油公司的长期成本，它们需要扩大在安全、保险费上的支出，并面临更严格的监管障碍。

穆迪说，举例来讲，中海油将在其钻井设备上增加更多的安全设施。

不过，不要指望石油公司会放弃在具有挑战的地方钻井。石油需求持续增长，特别是在像中国这样的发展中国家。

能源和金属咨询公司普氏能源资讯(Platts)估计，6月份中国的石油需求达到了创纪录的每日898万桶，同比增长10%。