中石化与委内瑞拉国家石油公司达成和解

PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company, has settled in a US court with Sinopec, its Chinese counterpart, less than a week after a five-year-old dispute became public.

委内瑞拉国家石油公司(PDVSA)与中石化(Sinopec)在一家美国法院达成和解。不到一周前，这两家公司之间长达5年的纠纷被公诸于众。

It brings a rapid end to a drawn-out battle that shadowed a gradual souring in relations between the world’s biggest emerging economy and the holder of the world’s biggest proven oil reserves.

和解让一场旷日持久的纠纷迅速结束，这场纠纷伴随着世界最大的新兴经济体与拥有世界最大已探明石油储量的国家之间关系逐渐恶化。

In a document filed on Tuesday in a US district court in Houston, Texas, PDVSA said that, “without implying acknowledgment of fault or responsibility but for the sole purpose of ending the controversy [between Sinopec USA and PDVSA]”, it agreed to pay Sinopec $21.5m, settling a contract agreed in May 2012.

PDVSA周二在向德克萨斯州休斯敦的美国地区法院提交的一份文件中表示，“在不暗示承认过错或责任，而完全是为了终结(中石化美国与PDVSA之间的)争议的前提下”，它同意向中石化支付2150万美元以了结2012年5月签署的一项合同。

However, the agreement stipulates that the amount be converted into Chinese renminbi and paid in two instalments, one on December 14 and another on January 15, 2018.

不过，和解协议规定，这笔款项将折算成人民币，分两笔支付，一笔在12月14日支付，另一笔于2018年1月15日支付。

“That’s how cash poor and badly run PDVSA is,” said Russ Dallen of boutique investment bank Caracas Capital, who first made the dispute public. “They are sitting on top of the biggest oil reserves in the world and they can’t even write a cheque for $21.5m dollars.”

最先曝光这场纠纷的精品投行加拉加斯资本市场(Caracas Capital Markets)的拉斯•达伦(Russ Dallen)表示：“这表明PDVSA的资金有多么拮据，经营有多么糟糕。他们坐拥世界上最大石油储量，却连一张2150万美元的支票也开不出来。”

He said worldwide publicity about the case over the past week had piled shame on PDVSA and the government in Caracas, “and they wanted it to go away as quickly as possible.”

他说，过去一周全世界对这一事件的报道让PDVSA和委内瑞拉政府感到羞愧，“他们希望尽快了结该案”。

The dispute centred on a $43.5m contract for supply of steel rebar, of which Sinopec said only half had been paid. It accused PDVSA of engaging in “intentional misrepresentations, deceit, and concealment of material facts” involving “wilful deception” and a co-ordinated conspiracy among several of its subsidiaries.

这场争端的焦点是一项4350万美元的螺纹钢供应合同，中石化表示，委内瑞拉国家石油公司只支付了一半的合同金额。中石化指控委内瑞拉国家石油公司“从事故意虚假陈述、欺骗以及隐瞒重大事实”，包括“蓄意欺骗”并与其几家子公司合谋。

Sinopec, one of the biggest Chinese state oil companies, became involved in Venezuela as part of a package of Chinese loans and investments adding up to more than $62bn between 2007 and 2016. Caracas has struggled to repay its debts as the oil price has fallen from its 2014 peak and as production at PDVSA has dwindled.

作为2007年至2016年逾620亿美元的一揽子中国贷款和投资的一部分，身为中国最大国有石油公司之一的中石化进入委内瑞拉。随着油价自2014年峰值回落，而委内瑞拉国家石油公司产量下滑，委内瑞拉在偿还债务方面陷入困难。

PDVSA and the government in Caracas have been declared in default multiple times by rating agencies since the middle of last month after they began missing payments on their international bonds.

在委内瑞拉国家石油公司和委内瑞拉政府开始未如期偿付其国际债券后，评级机构自上月中旬以来多次宣布它们违约。

Both PDVSA and the government are also in multiple disputes with oil companies, miners and others over expropriation of assets and non-payment of bills.

委内瑞拉国家石油公司和委内瑞拉政府还与石油公司、矿商和其他公司就没收资产和拖欠账单发生多起纠纷。

The government has been printing bolívares to cover a widening budget deficit, sending the currency into freefall on the parallel market and monthly inflation high into double digits.

委内瑞拉政府一直通过印钞来弥补日益扩大的预算赤字，导致其货币大幅贬值，月度通胀升至两位数高点。

President Nicolás Maduro has taken the country deeper into dictatorship as discontent rises at shortages of basic foods and medicines that have caused a humanitarian crisis.

委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯•马杜罗(Nicolás Maduro)让该国陷入了更严重的独裁统治，同时基本食品和药物的不足导致一场人道主义危机，加剧人们的不满情绪。