英力士與中石化接近達成和解
Ineos, the European refining and petrochemicals company, is close to reaching a settlement with Sinopec, after threatening to take the Chinese state-owned oil group to court over an intellectual property dispute.
歐洲煉油和石油化工企業英力士(Ineos)接近與中石化(Sinopec)達成和解。此前該公司曾因一起知識產權糾紛威脅起訴這家中國國有石油集團。
Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos chief executive, said yesterday that the two companies were close to a settlement “based on a thorough discussion of the subject, based on a good relationship, a good understanding, and I think very soon we’ll see a very good solution coming out of that”.
英力士首席執行官吉姆拉特克里夫(Jim Ratcliffe)昨天表示，兩家公司“在全面討論相關問題的基礎上，在良好的相互關係和相互理解的基礎上，”接近達成和解，“我認爲很快我們就會看到由此得出非常好的解決方案”。
Last year, Ineos had announced that it would take an intellectual property complaint against Sinopec to a Chinese court, claiming that Sinopec had built a new acrylonitrile plant without paying technology licensing fees due to Ineos. Acrylonitrile is an ingredient in hard plastics and carbon fibre, used for everything from Lego bricks to the Boeing Dreamliner.
去年，英力士曾宣佈將在中國法庭提起對中石化的知識產權訴訟，聲稱中石化建造了新的丙烯腈工廠，卻沒有支付應向英力士支付的技術許可費。丙烯腈是硬塑料和碳素纖維的組分之一，用途廣泛，從樂高(Lego)積木到波音787夢幻客機(Boeing Dreamliner)。
Ineos’s planned phenol plant in Nanjing — also a joint venture with Sinopec — was put on hold because of the continuing dispute. In the meantime, Ineos’ European rival Cepsa, the second-largest producer of plastic ingredient phenol after Ineos, inaugurated its own $300m plant in eastern China in April.
由於這一不斷持續的爭端，英力士原計劃在南京與中石化合資建造的苯酚工廠也被擱置。與此同時，英力士的歐洲競爭對手賽倍颯(CEPSA)也於今年4月在華東啓動了其3億美元的化工廠。賽倍颯是歐洲僅次於英力士的第二大苯酚（塑料組分之一）生產商。
Cepsa’s plant will provide phenol that previously had to be imported into China, leaving the country self-sufficient in the ingredient, according to José Manuel Martínez, Cepsa senior vice-president for petrochemicals.
根據賽倍颯石化高級副總裁何塞曼努埃爾氠丁內斯(José Manuel Martínez)的說法，賽倍颯的工廠將供應此前中國必須進口的苯酚，讓中國實現這種組分的自給自足。
Putting the Ineos plant “on the back burner” was “obviously a very sensible thing to do”, Mr Ratcliffe said. He explained that growing petrochemical capacity in China and Asia would add to pressure on European producers by shifting low-cost Middle Eastern production into the European market.
拉特克里夫表示，將英力士的合資廠項目“暫且緩一緩”，“顯然是一件十分明智的事情”。他解釋說，中國乃至整個亞洲日漸增長的石化產能，會導致低成本的中東產品轉向歐洲市場，從而爲歐洲生產商增加壓力。
Some of Asia’s growing surplus could also spill into Europe, he added, while cheap shale gas in the US has also revived the competitiveness of the country’s producers.
他補充說，亞洲不斷增加的過剩產品中，部分也可能向歐洲擴散。與此同時，美國廉價的頁岩氣也復甦了美國生產商的競爭力。
“Europe’s got quite a lot to worry about in my view,” Mr Ratcliffe warned. “It’s not just Asian capacity expansion.”
拉特克里夫警告說：“在我看來，歐洲需要擔心許多事情。不僅僅是亞洲產能擴大的問題。”
To stay competitive, Ineos is tapping into the same low-cost gas from North America.
爲保持競爭力，英力士也在利用北美廉價的天然氣。
Yesterday, Mr Ratcliffe launched two new ships in Shanghai re intended to lower Ineos’ feedstock costs at its European plants by shipping ethane from the US east coast.
昨天，拉特克里夫在上海爲兩艘新船舉行了下水儀式。這兩艘新船將從美國東海岸運輸乙烷，從而降低英力士歐洲工廠的原料成本。
Ineos plans a fleet of eight ships to transport relatively cheap shale gas to its plants in Norway and Grangemouth, Scotland.
英力士計劃打造一支由八艘船組成的船隊，將相對廉價的頁岩氣運往其位於挪威和蘇格蘭格蘭莫斯的工廠。
The gas will be piped from the Marcellus formation in western Pennsylvania to a terminal near Philadelphia, then shipped across the Atlantic, as part of a plan costing the company $1bn.
這些頁岩氣將從賓夕法尼亞州西部的馬賽盧斯頁岩層，用管道運往費城附近的一個碼頭，再裝船橫跨大西洋。英力士總共將爲該計劃投入10億美元。
