每日英語跟讀 Ep.971: Venezuela, Once an Oil Giant, Reaches the End of an Era 石油巨擘委內瑞拉 風光不再

For the first time in a century, there are no rigs searching for oil in Venezuela.

百年來，委內瑞拉首次沒有鑽油平台在鑽探石油。

Wells that once tapped the world’s largest crude reserves are abandoned or left to flare toxic gases that cast an orange glow over depressed oil towns.

曾自全球最大原油礦藏採油的油井，不是廢棄，就是任由洩漏的毒性氣體逕自燃燒，使附近蕭條的石油城鎮蒙上一層橘光。

Refineries that once processed oil for export are rusting hulks, leaking crude that blackens shorelines and coats the water in an oily sheen.

先前把石油加工出口的煉油廠成了生鏽的殘骸，洩漏的原油染黑了海岸線，並在海面形成一層油光。

Fuel shortages have brought the country to a standstill. At gas stations, lines go on for miles.

燃料短缺使這個國家陷入癱瘓。在加油站，排隊加油的車輛綿延數哩。

Venezuela’s colossal oil sector, which shaped the country and the international energy market for a century, has come to a near halt, with production reduced to a trickle by years of gross mismanagement and U.S. sanctions. The collapse is leaving behind a destroyed economy and a devastated environment and, many analysts say, bringing to an end the era of Venezuela as an energy powerhouse.

委內瑞拉龐大的石油業曾形塑這個國家和國際能源市場長達百年，如今卻幾近停頓，由於多年來管理不善和遭受美國制裁，產量只剩一丁點。石油業崩潰導致經濟慘淡，環境重創，且如許多分析家所言，為委國作為能源大國的時代畫下句點。

The country that a decade ago was the largest producer in Latin America, earning about $90 billion a year from oil exports, is expected to net about $2.3 billion by this year’s end — less than the aggregate amount that Venezuelan migrants who fled the country’s economic devastation will send back home to support their families, according to Pilar Navarro, a Caracas, Venezuela-based economist.

長駐委國首都卡拉卡斯的經濟學家納瓦洛說，當地10年前是拉丁美洲最大產油國，每年出口石油賺進900億美元，但到今年年底，預計可進帳23億美元，還不及為逃避經濟崩潰而出國的國民匯回養家的金錢總額。

Production is the lowest in nearly a century after sanctions forced most oil companies to stop drilling for or buying Venezuelan oil — and even that trickle could dry up soon, analysts warn.

分析家警告，制裁迫使許多石油公司停止鑽探或購買委國石油，以致其產量降到近百年來最低，甚至最後這點生產也可能即將停止。

The decline has diminished beyond recognition a country that just a decade ago rivaled the United States for regional influence. It is also unraveling a national culture defined by oil, a source of cash that once seemed endless; it financed monumental public works and pervasive graft, generous scholarships and flashy shopping trips to Miami.

石油業衰落，使十年前與美國享有同等區域影響力的委內瑞拉面目全非，還破壞了以石油為基礎的的國家文化，石油曾經是看似取之不盡的現金來源：支應大型公共工程，助長普遍存在的貪腐，用以發放豐厚的獎學金，也讓人們享受到美國佛州邁阿密的豪華購物之旅。

Crippling gasoline shortages have led to an outbreak of dozens of daily protests across most Venezuelan states in recent weeks.

汽油嚴重短缺，導致最近幾周委內瑞拉多數州每天總共爆發數十場抗議。

More than 5 million Venezuelans, or 1 in 6 residents, have fled the country since 2015, creating one of the world’s greatest refugee crises, according to the United Nations. The country now has the highest poverty rate in Latin America, overtaking Haiti this year, according to a recent study by Venezuela’s three leading universities.

聯合國資料顯示，2015年起已有逾500萬，也就是六分之一委國人逃離，是全球最大難民潮之一。委國三所頂尖大學最近的調查顯示，委國今年取代海地，成為拉美貧困率最高的國家。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/358363/web/