油價跌破每桶35美元 Brent crude oil slides below $35 for first time since

Oil sank below $35 a barrel for the first time since 2004 yesterday as a relentless rise in globAl output overshadowed geopolitical upheavals that had led to a shortlived rally earlier in the week.

昨天，油價自2004年以來首次跌破每桶35美元，原因是全球產出的無休止增長，壓過了曾在本週早些時候帶來短暫上漲的地緣政治動盪。

Escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the execution of a prominent cleric took Brent crude to alMost $39 a barrel on Monday. But the global benchmark retreated again due to further concerns of a supply glut that have contributed to oil prices plummeting 70 per cent since mid-2014.

沙特阿拉伯和伊朗之間圍繞處決一位知名教士而不斷升級的緊張關係，曾在週一令布倫特(Brent)原油的價格升至每桶近39美元。然而，對供應過剩的進一步擔憂令這一全球基準價格再次回落。自2014年年中以來，對供應過剩的擔憂幫助將油價壓低70%。

“If anything, these tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran are the nail in the coffin for any Opec co-ordination,” said David Fyfe, head of research at Gunvor, a Geneva-based trader. “There is no appetite for a reduction in production.”

總部駐日內瓦的交易商貢沃爾(Gunvor)的研究部門主管戴維法耶夫(David Fyfe)表示：“如果說有任何變化的話，沙特阿拉伯和伊朗之間的緊張局面抹殺了歐佩克採取任何協調行動的可能性。沒人願意降低石油產量。”

Although production growth has slowed outside Opec, such as in the US, it has not fallen fast enough to balance the market. Oil market watchers say crude oil supplies are outstripping demand by as much as 2m barrels a day. The price collapse has hammered the budgets of the world’s biggest producers and forced energy companies to reassess hundreds of billions of dollars in spending plans.

儘管在美國等非歐佩克國家的石油產量增長已經放緩，但放緩速度還不足以平衡整個市場。石油市場觀察人士表示，原油供應量每天超出需求200萬桶。油價暴跌對全球最大石油生產國的預算造成了沉重打擊，並迫使能源企業重新評估數千億美元的支出計劃。

Souring relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have dashed any hopes the cartel can agree to a production cut to support prices.

沙特阿拉伯和伊朗之間不斷惡化的關係，粉碎了歐佩克可能商定通過減產支撐油價的任何希望。

Brent crude fell more than 5 per cent to hit a low of $34.21 a barrel — a level last reached in early 2004.

布倫特原油價格昨日下跌逾5%，達到每桶34.21美元的低點——這是自2004年初以來未見的水平。