CNN News: 形勢所迫 沙特俄羅斯再一次舉起合作大旗

Whenever you hear about oil, the word OPEC isn`t far behind. OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

說起石油，人們就會想起OPEC組織。OPEC指的是石油輸出國組織。

It`s a group of 12 nations that have a lot of (INAUDIBLE) in the energy market because they produce about one third of the world`s total oil and export it around the globe. That`s about 30 million of barrels of oil every single day. It was formed in 1960. The goal: to coordinate oil production to insure that members are pumping enough supply to meet demand.

OPEC現(xiàn)有12個成員國。并且這12個成員國在能源市場占有舉足輕重的地位，石油產(chǎn)量約占世界石油產(chǎn)量的1/3，出產(chǎn)的石油銷往全球各地。大約每天3000萬桶油。該組織成立于1960年，目的是協(xié)調(diào)各國石油政策，滿足世界石油供應。

If all 12 countries play by the rules, it can help to regulate and stabilize global oil prices. But there were also plenty of major oil-producing nations that are not part of the OPEC club, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Russia. And they don`t attend OPEC meetings, and as such, they`re not bound by the decisions.

若12個成員國遵守規(guī)則，將有助于調(diào)節(jié)穩(wěn)定全球石油價格。但一些主要的石油生產(chǎn)國仍不是OPEC成員，如美國、加拿大、墨西哥和俄羅斯。這些國家不參加OPEC會議，也不受相關(guān)決策的約束。

And as these nations have increased their production over the past few years, OPEC`s influence in the market has plunged.

在過去幾年這些國家石油產(chǎn)量增加，OPEC在能源市場的影響力就隨之下降。

There`s now an excess of oil supply, which has pushed down prices significantly. The price drop has caused political problems in some OPEC countries that rely on oil sales heavily to fund their governments.

石油供應量過剩導致石油價格下跌。而石油價格下降就會引一些依賴石油銷售的OPEC成員國的政治問題。

OPEC does not want to lose that influence. That`s partly why it continues producing oil at a record rate even as global oil prices stay very low. Yesterday, there was a meeting between OPEC member Saudi Arabia and non-member Russia. They were looking at ways to work together to help reduce the world`s oversupply of crude oil and raise the price of it.

為了繼續(xù)維持OPEC的影響力，盡管全球石油價格很低，成員國繼續(xù)以創(chuàng)紀錄的速度生產(chǎn)石油。昨日，OPEC成員國沙特阿拉伯和非成員國俄羅斯舉行會面。他們正在一致尋求減少世界原油供應過剩、提高價格的辦法。

The agreement they reached was to freeze their oil production levels where they are, not increase them, not decrease them. And because that`s not expected to have much impact on the world`s oil supply, international prices dropped again yesterday.

他們達成的協(xié)議是凍結(jié)石油生產(chǎn)水平。因為這并不會對世界石油供應產(chǎn)量產(chǎn)生太大影響。昨日國際油價再次下跌。