Ineos, the European refining and petrochemicals company, is close to reaching a settlement with Sinopec, after threatening to take the Chinese state-owned oil group to court over an intellectual property dispute.

欧洲炼油和石油化工企业英力士(Ineos)接近与中石化(Sinopec)达成和解。此前该公司曾因一起知识产权纠纷威胁起诉这家中国国有石油集团。

Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos chief executive, said yesterday that the two companies were close to a settlement “based on a thorough discussion of the subject, based on a good relationship, a good understanding, and I think very soon we’ll see a very good solution coming out of that”.

英力士首席执行官吉姆拉特克里夫(Jim Ratcliffe)昨天表示，两家公司“在全面讨论相关问题的基础上，在良好的相互关系和相互理解的基础上，”接近达成和解，“我认为很快我们就会看到由此得出非常好的解决方案”。

Last year, Ineos had announced that it would take an intellectual property complaint against Sinopec to a Chinese court, claiming that Sinopec had built a new acrylonitrile plant without paying technology licensing fees due to Ineos. Acrylonitrile is an ingredient in hard plastics and carbon fibre, used for everything from Lego bricks to the Boeing Dreamliner.

去年，英力士曾宣布将在中国法庭提起对中石化的知识产权诉讼，声称中石化建造了新的丙烯腈工厂，却没有支付应向英力士支付的技术许可费。丙烯腈是硬塑料和碳素纤维的组分之一，用途广泛，从乐高(Lego)积木到波音787梦幻客机(Boeing Dreamliner)。

Ineos’s planned phenol plant in Nanjing — also a joint venture with Sinopec — was put on hold because of the continuing dispute. In the meantime, Ineos’ European rival Cepsa, the second-largest producer of plastic ingredient phenol after Ineos, inaugurated its own $300m plant in eastern China in April.

由于这一不断持续的争端，英力士原计划在南京与中石化合资建造的苯酚工厂也被搁置。与此同时，英力士的欧洲竞争对手赛倍飒(CEPSA)也于今年4月在华东启动了其3亿美元的化工厂。赛倍飒是欧洲仅次于英力士的第二大苯酚（塑料组分之一）生产商。

Cepsa’s plant will provide phenol that previously had to be imported into China, leaving the country self-sufficient in the ingredient, according to José Manuel Martínez, Cepsa senior vice-president for petrochemicals.

根据赛倍飒石化高级副总裁何塞曼努埃尔氠丁内斯(José Manuel Martínez)的说法，赛倍飒的工厂将供应此前中国必须进口的苯酚，让中国实现这种组分的自给自足。

Putting the Ineos plant “on the back burner” was “obviously a very sensible thing to do”, Mr Ratcliffe said. He explained that growing petrochemical capacity in China and Asia would add to pressure on European producers by shifting low-cost Middle Eastern production into the European market.

拉特克里夫表示，将英力士的合资厂项目“暂且缓一缓”，“显然是一件十分明智的事情”。他解释说，中国乃至整个亚洲日渐增长的石化产能，会导致低成本的中东产品转向欧洲市场，从而为欧洲生产商增加压力。

Some of Asia’s growing surplus could also spill into Europe, he added, while cheap shale gas in the US has also revived the competitiveness of the country’s producers.

他补充说，亚洲不断增加的过剩产品中，部分也可能向欧洲扩散。与此同时，美国廉价的页岩气也复苏了美国生产商的竞争力。

“Europe’s got quite a lot to worry about in my view,” Mr Ratcliffe warned. “It’s not just Asian capacity expansion.”

拉特克里夫警告说：“在我看来，欧洲需要担心许多事情。不仅仅是亚洲产能扩大的问题。”

To stay competitive, Ineos is tapping into the same low-cost gas from North America.

为保持竞争力，英力士也在利用北美廉价的天然气。

Yesterday, Mr Ratcliffe launched two new ships in Shanghai re intended to lower Ineos’ feedstock costs at its European plants by shipping ethane from the US east coast.

昨天，拉特克里夫在上海为两艘新船举行了下水仪式。这两艘新船将从美国东海岸运输乙烷，从而降低英力士欧洲工厂的原料成本。

Ineos plans a fleet of eight ships to transport relatively cheap shale gas to its plants in Norway and Grangemouth, Scotland.

英力士计划打造一支由八艘船组成的船队，将相对廉价的页岩气运往其位于挪威和苏格兰格兰莫斯的工厂。

The gas will be piped from the Marcellus formation in western Pennsylvania to a terminal near Philadelphia, then shipped across the Atlantic, as part of a plan costing the company $1bn.

这些页岩气将从宾夕法尼亚州西部的马赛卢斯页岩层，用管道运往费城附近的一个码头，再装船横跨大西洋。英力士总共将为该计划投入10亿美元。