Mexico is set to earn a record $8bn from financial contracts it bought last summer as insurance against weaker energy demand and lower oil prices this year, the Financial Times has learnt.

英国《金融时报》获悉，墨西哥去年夏季购入一些金融合约，作为防范今年能源需求走弱和油价下跌的保险，现在，该国将从这些合约净赚创纪录的80亿美元。

The oil producer's astute risk management will make it the envy of Opec, the oil cartel whose members are struggling with a collapse in prices from last year's peak of $147 a barrel and who are due to meet tomorrow to discuss output levels.

该石油生产国精明的风险管理，将使其成为石油输出国组织（OPEC，欧佩克）的羡慕对象。欧佩克成员国正苦苦应对油价从去年每桶147美元的峰值大跌的影响，该组织将于明天开会，讨论产量水平。

It has also given Agustín Carstens, the country's finance minister and architect of the hedging strategy, a Wall Street-sized reputation for financial wizardry.

这也为上述对冲策略的设计者、墨西哥财长奥古斯丁•卡斯滕斯(Agustin Carstens)，赢得了享誉华尔街的金融奇才声誉。

Traders joked yesterday that Mr Carstens was probably 2009's “most successful, but worst paid, oil manager”. But he will be hard pushed to repeat his success. Mexico is unlikely to secure the same favourable protection for next year.

交易员昨日开玩笑称，卡斯滕斯大概是2009年“最成功、但薪酬最低的石油经理”。但他将很难再现自己的成功。墨西哥不太可能为明年购得同样优惠的保护。

Oil traders said the world's sixth-largest oil exporter had started to hedge a small portion of its oil revenues for next year after it successfully locked in an average price of $70 a barrel for all its oil exports this year. The fresh deals were securing a lower price floor for 2010 of about $50-$55, they said.

石油交易员表示，全球第六大石油出口国在为今年所有出口石油成功锁定每桶70美元的均价后，已开始为明年一小部分的石油收入进行对冲操作。

The Mexican windfall will be scrutinised by other producers suffering a drop in oil revenues, and particularly by Opec's members. The cartel is set to earn revenues of $555bn this year, down 40 per cent from 2008, according to US estimates.

其它承受石油收入下降之苦的产油国——尤其是欧佩克成员国——将仔细研究墨西哥这笔意外之财。据美国估计，欧佩克今年的石油收入将达到5550亿美元，较2008年下跌40%。

Edward Morse, chief economist at LCM Commodities in New York, said Mexico's accomplishment was “idiosyncratic to last year's oil market”, when record oil prices of $150 a barrel allowed the country to buy cheap insurance for 2009. The success, he added, was unlikely to be copied by other countries.

纽约LCM Commodities首席经济学家爱德华•莫尔斯(Edward Morse)表示，墨西哥的成就“是去年石油市场造成的特有现象”，当时，每桶150美元的天价，使该国能够为2009年购买廉价的保险。他补充道，这一成功不太可能被其它国家复制。

译者/陈云飞