【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 芝麻开门
Open Sesame
【The Economist】 April, 2019
翻译练习：青澄青果
(注：本文仅用于英语翻译练习和单词学习之用）
【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 芝麻开门
For years investors dreamed of peering into the books of Saudi Aramco， the oil colossus wholly owned by Saudi Arabia. On April 1st they got their wish. A 469-page bond prospectus revealed $111bn in net income last year, more than the five oil majors-Royal Dutch Shell， ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total and BP-managed combined. The document also highlighted Aramco's constraints.
多年以来投资者们都觊觎沙特阿拉伯国有石油公司沙特阿美的财务账册。今年4月1日他们终于美梦得偿。阿美公布了长达469页的债券招募书，披露了去年高达1110亿美元的净收入，相当于荷兰皇家壳牌、埃克森美孚、雪佛龙、道达尔和英国石油五家主要石油大户的收入总和。 招募书同时也披露了阿美所受的约束。
【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 芝麻开门
Like rivals, it face swinging oil prices and uncertain long-term demand. The bond will help finance the acquisition of 70% of SABIC, a petrochemical company, from the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, for $69bn. This will diversity Aramco's revenues-and give the state cash to invest in sectors beyond oil (especially now that a planned listing of 5% of Aramco's shares has been postponed).
同其竞争对手一样，阿美也面临着摇摆的石油价格和无法确定的长期需求。债券融资可以帮助阿美从沙特主权财富基金手中以690亿美元收购石化公司沙特基础工业SABIC。好处是阿美可以实现盈利方式多元化，同时为沙特政府投资石油之外的行业提供资金，尤其当前阿美5%的股票上市计划又延期了。
【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 芝麻开门
Aramco looks better prepared than rivals for a less fossil-hungry future. It is less indebted and produces roughly four times as much oil, at about one-third the cost per barrel. Yet Aramco also bears and unusual burden. In 2018 it paid Saudi income tax of $102bn, more than the combined profits of Apple and Samsung, the world's most profitable listed firms. That is on top of royalties of $56bn and a dividend of $58bn. Credit raters at Fitch note that taxes limit Aramco's funds flow from operations, a measure of profitability, to $26 a barrel, less than Shell's $38 or Total's $31. Ghawar, a giant field, was belived by some to pump 5m barrels a day, but only manages 3.8m. Fitch and Moody's, another agency, rated Aramco A+ and A1, respectively-below ExxonMobil, Shell or Total.
面对全球对化石燃料需求的不断降低，阿美比其他竞争者准备得更加充分。和它们相比，阿美负债少，产量是其四倍，而每桶生产成本是其三分之一。不过阿美的负担却异乎寻常。2018年阿美给沙特缴纳的所得税为1020亿美元，远远超过了全球最盈利公司苹果和三星的利润总和。这还不算完，阿美还向沙特缴纳了560亿美元的特许使用费和580亿美元的股息。惠誉评级师认为正是由于这些税费负担限制了阿美的运营资金流（盈利能力的衡量标准）在每桶26美元以内，小于壳牌的38元和道达尔的31元。巨型油田Ghawar的日产量会达到500万桶，但实际只能达到380万桶。惠誉和另一家评级机构Moody给阿美的评级分别是 A+和A1，低于他们给埃克森美孚、壳牌和道达尔的评级。
【朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】- 芝麻开门
*colossus(pl.colossi, colossuses)- a statue that is much bigger than life size, a person or thing of enormous size, importance, or ability. e.g.the colossus of the Bombay film world. an intellectual colossus like Leonardo.
*prospectus- printed booklet advertising a school or university to potential parents or students or giving details of a share offer for the benefit of investors.
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