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  3. 【F1】Ever since the mid-1980s, when OPEC’s attempts to keep the oil price high collapsed in the face of rising supply, only war h

【F1】Ever since the mid-1980s, when OPEC’s attempts to keep the oil price high collapsed in the face of rising supply, only war h

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问题     【F1】Ever since the mid-1980s, when OPEC’s attempts to keep the oil price high collapsed in the face of rising supply, only war has been potent enough to lift the price hack to the levels of the 1970s. The difference today from the last era of high prices, says Tom Collina, of 20/20 Vision, an environmentalist group, is that "oil producers are pumping as fast as they can, but cannot keep pace with demand".
    The robust economic growth of America, coupled with industrial revolutions in China and India, has helped to ensure a very different market for energy.【F2】The world got used to relying on spare capacity of a few million b/d in Saudi Arabia that could always cap price spikes in an emergency(it did just that in the first Gulf war and again during an oil-workers’ strike in Venezuela in 2003). Hut demand has steadily eaten away reserves and investment has failed to keep up. In the tight markets for energy since 2004, some identified a "fear premium" of $ 10-15 a barrel reflecting the threat of lost supply. Even slower demand growth in 2005 did little to lower prices.
    【F3】The tightness of capacity extends into refining and gas supply, leaving consumers vulnerable to any external shocks—such as the two hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, which hit the Gulf of Mexico in the autumn. The hurricanes put a dozen oil refineries accounting for 16% of U. S. capacity temporarily out of action. American refining fell to its lowest level since March 1987, according to Petroleum Economist. The price of petrol rose above $ 3 a gallon—a level shockingly high to Americans, cheap as it might seem to Japanese or Europeans. Democrats accused the oil companies of price gouging, while Republicans argued for an easing of environmental laws restricting oil drilling and refinery building.
    All this makes it a producers’ world, which no one has exploited as gleefully as Hugo Chavez. Venezuela’s president has always believed in oil as a tool of geopolitics, to be used against American "imperialism". In 2004 he unilaterally raised the royalties on super-heavy crude production in the Orinoco belt from 1% to 16. 6%—and may yet increase it to 30%. In 2005 he increased the tax rate paid by the foreign oil companies from 34% to 50% , and then hit them with huge bills for unpaid "back taxes".【F4】The latest of his measures was to insist on the 22 foreign companies operating service contracts to switch, by December 31st 2005, to joint-ventures, in which the government would hold the lion’s share. All but Exxon Mobil eventually did so.
    Strangely, perhaps, consumers can learn a comforting lesson from all this. For all his mischief-making, even a populist like Mr. Chavez has never looked like cutting supplies to what Venezuela calls its "fundamental market" in America. America would notice a cut in Venezuelan supplies, which normally account for about 12-13% of its imports. Rut it could always buy oil on the world market. Venezuela would be worse hit.【F5】It would be hard-pressed to find other markets for about half of its production, especially since most of its crude is high in sulphur and unsuitable for most refineries.
【F2】
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答案世界习惯于依赖沙特阿拉伯每天几百万桶的额外供油能力。在紧急时．总能抑制住价格峰值(在第一次海湾战争时，就起到了这个作用。在2003年委内瑞拉石油工人罢工时．又一次起了作用)。
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