By Clifford Krauss
Just east of
Argentina’s Andean foothills, an oil field called the Vaca Muerta – “dead cow” in English – has come to life. In May, the Argentine oil company YPF announced that it had found 150 million barrels of oil in the Patagonian field, and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said the discovery could give new impetus to the country’s stagnant economy.
在阿根廷的安地斯山麓丘陵以東，一片名為「死牛」的油田已重獲新生。阿根廷YPF石油公司今年五月聲稱，已經在這片巴塔哥尼亞油田發現大約1.5億桶的石油蘊藏。阿根廷總統克莉絲汀娜‧費南德茲則表示，這項最新發現可望為陷入停滯的阿根廷經濟注入新活力。
“The importance of this discovery goes well beyond the volume,” said Sebastián Eskenazi, YPF’s chief executive. “The important thing is it is something new: new energy, a new future, new expectations.”
YPF執行長艾茲肯納吉說：「這項新發現的重要性超越單純的數量。最重要的是，它帶來前所未有的『新』：新能源、新未來、新期待。」
Although there are significant hurdles, geologists say that the Vaca Muerta is a harbinger of a possible major expansion of global petroleum supplies over the next two decades as the industry uses advanced techniques to extract oil from shale and other tightly packed rocks.
地質學家指出，雖然障礙重重，「死牛油田」可能是未來20年全球石油供應量大幅增加的前奏，因為石油業界已經開始利用先進技術開採蘊藏於頁岩與其他緊密岩層內的原油。
Exploration of shale fields has begun in Australia, Canada, Poland and
France. Indian and Chinese oil companies are investing in pilot projects that, if successful, could make their countries significant oil producers, possibly reshaping energy geopolitics and stemming future price rises. Ukraine and
Russia are also thought to have sizable shale fields of oil and gas, as do many North African and Middle Eastern countries.
澳洲、加拿大、波蘭、法國已經開始探勘頁岩油田。印度與中國的石油公司已經相繼對若干實驗計畫投注資金，如果順利，兩國可能躍為重要的石油生產國，甚至可能改變全球的能源地緣政治生態，同時抑制未來的油價漲勢。一般認為，烏克蘭與俄羅斯可能也擁有數量相當可觀的頁岩油與天然氣。許多北非與中東國家亦然。
“The potential is huge, on the order of hundreds of billions of barrels of recoverable reserves,” said Michael C. Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research.
「戰略能源與經濟研究所」所長林奇說：「潛力非常可觀；可開採的蘊藏量多達數千億桶。」
The search for oil in tight rocks began in the
United States about three years ago. Domestic oil production from shale has grown to more than 50,000 barrels a day since 2009 and could reach three million barrels a day by 2020.
美國大約三年前率先探勘蘊藏在緊密岩層中的石油，2009年以後的本土頁岩油產量每天超過50萬桶，估計至2020年每日產量可達到300萬桶。
The techniques used to extract it include hydraulic fracturing, in which high-pressure fluids are used to break up shale rock to release the oil, and horizontal drilling, which tap thin layers of oil-filled shale sandwiched between layers of other rock.
開採頁岩油所使用的技術包括水力壓裂法。它利用高壓液體擊碎頁岩，進而釋出蘊藏其中的石油。另外還有水平鑽鑿：從夾在其他岩層之間的薄層含油頁岩中取油。
Oil experts caution that geologists have only just begun to study shale fields, and thus can only guess at their potential. Little seismic work has been completed, and core samples need to be taken to judge how much oil or gas can be retrieved.
石油專家表示，地質學家直到最近才開始研究頁岩層，因此只能粗估石油蘊藏量。科學家完成的地震研究非常少，而且尚待取得岩層核心的樣本，據以研判究竟可以開採多少石油或天然氣。
Also hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, has drawn significant opposition in the United States and
France because of concerns that the fluids used can pollute groundwater. And the process requires vast amounts of water, a problem for dry regions.
此外，水力壓裂在美國與法國引起強烈反對，反對者擔心它使用的液體汙染地下水。還有，這種技術必須消耗大量的水。對乾旱的地區而言是個問題。
Still, analysts are optimistic. “It could potentially be a game changer,” said Fadel Gheit, a managing director and oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Company. “We are going to see much wider distribution of oil reserves, to the benefit of the whole world. Countries like Canada and Australia could potentially become the new
Saudi Arabia for energy.”
儘管如此，分析師還是感到樂觀。歐本海默公司總經理兼石油分析師蓋約特說：「它可能改變全局。我們可望看到石油蘊藏分布更廣泛的局面。這對全世界有利。加拿大、澳洲等國可能成為能源領域新的沙烏地阿拉伯。」
Argentina has high hopes. The 150 million barrels of recoverable shale oil found in the Vaca Muerta represents an increase of 8 percent in
Argentina’s reserves, and the find was the biggest discovery of oil in the country since the late 1980s. YPF had explored only 250 square kilometers out of 13,000 square kilometers in the shale deposit. French oil company Total and the American companies Apache, Exxon Mobil and EOG Resources are investing heavily in Argentine shale.
阿根廷懷有高度的期待。石油公司在「死牛油田」發現的1.5億桶可開採頁岩油足可使阿根廷已知原油蘊藏量增加8%，而這也是1980年代末以來，在阿根廷所發現的最大石油蘊藏。YPF公司至今僅探勘1.3萬平方公里頁岩層當中的250平方公里。法國道達爾石油公司與美國阿帕契、艾克森美孚、EOG資源等公司，均已對阿根廷頁岩層投下重資。
Another potential winner is
China, which has at least two projects exploring for oil and gas in shale. BP and Royal Dutch Shell are already working with the Chinese.
另外一個可能的贏家是中國。它目前至少在進行兩項頁岩油與天然氣探勘計畫。英國石油、皇家荷蘭殼牌石油公司已經開始與中國合作。」
“
China will probably be able to grow fast because of the single ownership of the resources,” said Bob Fryklund, vice president for global exploration and production analysis at IHS Cera, an energy consultant firm.
IHS賽拉能源顧問公司負責全球探勘與生產分析的副總裁傅萊克蘭德說：「中國可能會因為單獨握有這些資源而快速成長。
Mr. Fryklund said it was still too soon to know how big global oil production from shale would become. But he noted that oil companies had already invested billions of dollars in exploration.
傅萊克蘭德又說，目前要判斷全球的頁岩油產量多寡仍言之過早。不過他指出，許多石油公司已經投下數十億美元的探勘資金。
“Tight oil is the new revolution in oil production, and it’s not just the
U.S.,” he said. “It’s worldwide.”
他說：「頁岩油將為石油生產帶來革命性變化，而且不只限於美國；它遍及全世界。」
原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/business/global/05shale.html
出處: 紐時摘譯：頁岩油登場 能源版圖重劃 - 打開聯合報 看見紐約時報 - udn城市 http://city.udn.com/50132/4685069#ixzz1WNZXfJGG
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