根据今年美委石油协议产出的首批100万桶石油本周抵达得克萨斯州——特朗普将其称为“免费赠送”的“礼物”——但两国的选举可能令该协议的前景蒙上阴影。
The first million barrels of oil to emerge from this year’s US-Venezuela deal arrived in Texas this week — cargo that Trump described as a “gift” delivered for free — but elections in both countries could put the deal’s future at risk.
对于由美国政府部分持股、委内瑞拉有争议商人亚历杭德罗·贝坦库尔特领导的北美蓝色能源合作伙伴公司而言，产量正在提升。该公司正在部署第六座钻井平台，并宣布其位于委内瑞拉西部的油田日产量达11.5万桶。但在一个逾四分之一人口外逃的国家开展业务的挑战开始显现：熟练石油工人短缺，且从海外吸引他们回国颇具难度。
For North American Blue Energy Partners, an oil company partly owned by the US government and led by the controversial Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, production is ramping up. The firm is deploying a sixth oil rig and it announced its fields in Western Venezuela were yielding 115,000 barrels per day. But the challenges of working in a country where over a quarter of the population fled are starting to show: there is a shortage of skilled oil workers, and luring them back from abroad is proving difficult.
与此同时，“我们不知道这份合同能否经受住美国政府更迭的考验”，政治风险公司Caracas Wire首席执行官迈克尔·麦卡锡对Semafor表示。美国民主党对该协议的合法性持怀疑态度，若他们在中期选举中获胜，极可能展开调查。委内瑞拉正在进行的民主化进程也可能令协议受到质疑。该国最受欢迎的政治领袖玛丽亚·科里娜·马查多在流亡10个月后近期回国，她表示如果她执政，贝坦库尔特不会是可行的经济合作伙伴。
Meanwhile, “we don’t know if this contract is going to survive a change in government in the US,” Michael McCarthy, CEO of political risk firm Caracas Wire, told Semafor. US Democrats are skeptical of the legality of the deal, and would likely investigate it if they win the midterms. Venezuela’s ongoing democratization process could also call it into question. María Corina Machado, the country’s most popular political leader who recently returned after 10-month exile, has said Betancourt would not be a viable economic partner if she were in government.
