國際科技信息

Computer Chips Might Be up to 1,000 Times Faster as Early as 2013. But It All Depends on A Very Strange New Kind of Glue...

Co m p u t e r m a k e r IBM has gone into partnership with a glue specialist to create 'skyscraper' computers -building huge sandwiches of silicon chips by sticking layer after layer of chips covered w i t h t i n y c o m p o n e n t s together.

It's hoped the process will create smartphones and PCs up to 1,000 times faster than today's - which may be on the market as early as 2013.

The company, 3M, also make heat resistant glues, a d h e s i ve s u s e d i n t h e aerospace industry and sticky tape - but the hi-tech glues created in collaboration with IBM could actually be the key step towards making the next evolutionary leap in computing.

Today's attempts at piling chips vertically - known as 3D packaging - face problems from overheating. New glues could potentially conduct heat through a stack of densely-packed chips and away from logic circuits that could be burnt out by the heat.

The research aims to create 'stacks' of up to 100 layers of silicon.

Crucial to the development of the new chips will be techniques that allow IBM to slather glue over 100s of chips at once. Current techniques for gluing chips are described as being akin to frosting a cake slice by slice.

This material fits underneath computer chips when they're attached to printed circuit boards - the unique part of what we're doing is that our glue conducts heat out to the edge of the sandwich,' Mike Bowman, marketing manager for 3M says. 'Our glue will spread heat more evenly through the chip. With conventional chips, with just one or two layers, but once you're stacking chips, the problem can become very severe.’

Today's chips, including t h o s e c o n t a i n i n g 3D transistors, are in fact 2D chips that are still very flat structures,’ said Bernie Meyerson, a vice president of IBM Research, in a statement.

So far, most increases in computing power have been driven by scientific breakthroughs that allow chip makers to etch ever-smaller circuits onto ever-smaller chip wafers. The new '3D' approach could accelerate gadgets such as tablet computers to unheard-of new speeds.

'Our scientists are aiming to develop materials that will allow us to package tremendous amounts of computing power into a new form factor – a silicon skyscraper,' said Meyerson.

'We believe we can advance this, and create a new class of semiconductors - faster, with lower power usage, ideal for tablets and smartphones.'

Other 3M glues are used in hi-tech industries such as solar power, as well as in markedly lower-tech e n v i ro n m e n t s s u c h a s carpentry.

Both companies did not speculate on a release date for the new technology, but insiders speaking to tech sites such as The Register said versions could be on the market as early as 2013.

膠水粘合芯片有望提高電腦運(yùn)算速度1000倍

電腦制造商IBM已經(jīng)與一個(gè)膠水專家合作，利用膠水把一層層芯片粘在一起，研制 “摩天樓(skyscraper)”電腦。

放在疊加芯片之間的一個(gè)高級(jí)粘合劑球，它令100層芯片疊加在一起，而不會(huì)因?yàn)檫^熱燒壞邏輯線路

它希望通過這種方式，可以令手機(jī)和PC的速度提高1000倍。

3M公司還生產(chǎn)用于航空航天業(yè)的耐熱膠水、粘合劑和膠帶，但是它與I B M聯(lián)合研制的這種高科膠水，事實(shí)上是計(jì)算機(jī)信息處理技術(shù)能否向前邁進(jìn)一大步的關(guān)鍵步驟?，F(xiàn)在把芯片垂直疊加在一起的技術(shù)——3D封裝面臨產(chǎn)品過熱等問題。新型膠水應(yīng)該讓疊加在一起的芯片具備良好的導(dǎo)熱性，確保邏輯路線不會(huì)因過熱而燒毀。該研究打算制造由100層芯片組成的商用微處理器。

研制這種新型芯片的關(guān)鍵，是尋找可以把超過100層芯片粘貼在一起的方法。當(dāng)前的芯片粘貼技術(shù)被形容成就像用糖霜把蛋糕片一層層粘貼在一起。I B M研究部副總裁伯尼·梅爾森在聲明里說:“現(xiàn)在的芯片，包括那些具有3D封裝技術(shù)的芯片，事實(shí)上仍是2D芯片，它們擁有非常平坦的結(jié)構(gòu)。”迄今為止，大多數(shù)計(jì)算機(jī)能力的提升都是受到科學(xué)突破的驅(qū)使，科學(xué)家通過這些新突破，可以在更小的芯片上雕刻更小的電路。這種新型“3D”方法能夠大大提高平板電腦等電子產(chǎn)品的速度。他說：“我們的科學(xué)家打算研發(fā)一種材料，我們通過它可以顯著提高電腦的能力。我們認(rèn)為我們能夠?qū)崿F(xiàn)這個(gè)目的，創(chuàng)造出新型半導(dǎo)體，它的速度更快，能耗更低，是平板電腦的理想之選?！?/p>

3M公司生產(chǎn)的用于高科技產(chǎn)業(yè)的其他膠水，被應(yīng)用在太陽能和技術(shù)含量相對(duì)較低的環(huán)境，例如木匠業(yè)。兩家公司還未考慮公布這項(xiàng)新技術(shù)的確切日期，但是據(jù)消息人士說，它可能最早會(huì)在2013年上市。

My 2 Suns: Bounty of New Exoplanet Discoveries Includes a World Orbiting a Binary Star

The hundreds of distant worlds, some large and some small, that are known to dot the galaxy provide plenty of intrigue for the scientists who hunt them. But the catalogued planetary population has just gotten a lot larger and more diverse, thanks to word this week of a newly identified planet orbiting two suns, more than a dozen newfound "super-Earths," and strong indications that the Milky Way Galaxy is home to an almost unfathomable number of planets awaiting discovery.

More than 350 researchers from around the globe gathered at the Extreme Solar Systems (ESS) II conference in Grand Teton National Park, Wyo., to share their findings on these newfound exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, of every size and configuration.

The most exotic of the latest batch of exoplanets is the world with two suns, like Tatooine of Star Wars or Dr. Who's Gallifrey. The planet, named Kepler 16 b for the NASA Kepler spacecraft that spotted it, revolves around two stars locked in a tight binary pairing; the planet's wide, nearly circular orbit keeps it well outside the stars' orbital dance. The trio is not the only so-called circumbinary system known, but it is the first for which researchers have been able to measure the properties of both stars and the planet so precisely, and the first system where the planet has been directly detected, rather than inferred. [Read more about other planets Kepler has found.]

The researchers, led by Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., announced the finding at the ESS conference and with a September 15 press conference in California that included a visual-effects supervisor from Lucasfilm, the makers of Star Wars. Doyle, Joshua Carter of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), and their colleagues also described the Kepler 16 system in a study in the September 16 issue of Science.

Kepler 16 b is reminiscent of Saturn in its dimensions and mass, but slightly denser, implying that its makeup skews more to elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. The giant planet orbits its parent stars every 229 Earth days. As curious a s K e p l e r 16 b i s, t h e stellar binary that hosts it is noteworthy as well. The smaller of the two stars is just one fifth the mass of our sun, making it the smallest mainsequence star whose physical properties are well known.

The astronomical oddball was not the only news from the Kepler mission at the ESS meeting. Sarah Ballard, a CfA graduate student and member of the Kepler team, described on September 12 a newly uncovered pair of planets orbiting the star Kepler 19.

Kepler 19 b, only twice as Earth's diameter, is among the smallest exoplanets known to date. But it is likely a miserable place: at just 13.5 million kilometers from its host star, the planet's surface is likely a toasty 480 degrees Celsius.

The Kepler spacecraft detects planets such as Kepler 19 b by watching them dim the light of their host star as the planets pass in front, or "transit." Ordinarily, those transits will occur at regular intervals, like celestial clockwork, but oddities in Kepler 19 b's transit times suggest the influence of the other half of the pair—a larger, unseen planet also orbiting Kepler 19 and perturbing the motion of its neighbor.

Kepler is hardly the only planet-finding campaign meeting with success and making news this week at the Wyoming confab. A search based at institutions in the U.K. and Spain, the Wide-Angle Search for Planets (WASP), reported the discovery of some two dozen new planets. And a European contingent from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) had an even bigger haul to unveil.

There seem to be plenty of targets to go around: most of the tens of billions of yellow-orange stars in the galaxy might harbor planets, new HARPS data suggest. Previous HARPS results had implied that up to half of these stars could have planets, but a new statistical analysis shows the percentage to be even higher, about 70 percent, Francesco Pepe of the Observatory of Geneva in Switzerland said during a press conference announcing the HARPS results on September 12.

T h e H A R P S t e a m announced about 50 new planets, of which 16 are super-Earths—planets larger than our own but smaller than Neptune or Uranus. Statistical models suggest that four in 10 stars harbor super-Earths. One of the newfound HARPS planets, HD 85512 b, orbits on the edge of the habitable zone, a temperate band surrounding a star where temperatures could support liquid water and just maybe extraterrestrial life.

HARPS is an instrument that measures the wobble c a u s e d b y a p l a n e t's gravitational tug on its host star, so it can be used to estimate planetary mass. It is not able to measure the diameter of planets, so these "super-Earths" could be large and gaseous, like Neptune, or small and rocky, like Earth, the researchers say.

Studying super-Earths is a particularly fruitful area of planetary science, says David Latham of the CfA, who was not involved in the HARPS work. "It's a kind of planet we don't have in our own system," he says. In fact, the existence of super-Earths has come to light only in the past few years.

Between the super-Earths, the circumbinary planet, and the dozens of other new discoveries, researchers are now turning up exoplanets in unprecedented numbers. "We are really in the age of discovery of new worlds," said Lisa Kaltenegger of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, and the CfA during the press conference.

科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)奇特行星 其天空將有“兩個(gè)太陽”

據(jù)美國太空網(wǎng)站報(bào)道，在科幻電影《星球大戰(zhàn)》中天行者家族的故鄉(xiāng)行星是出現(xiàn)“兩顆太陽”的塔圖因行星，也許這種現(xiàn)象并非完全是科幻情節(jié)。目前，天文學(xué)家宣稱首次發(fā)現(xiàn)一顆環(huán)繞兩顆恒星運(yùn)行的行星，這意味著它將像塔圖因行星一樣，天空中出現(xiàn)兩顆太陽。

科學(xué)家使用美國宇航局開普勒探測(cè)器觀測(cè)到一顆巨大行星環(huán)繞一對(duì)恒星，這個(gè)恒星系統(tǒng)被稱為“Kepler-16”，距離地球200光年。

美國華盛頓市卡耐基學(xué)院的阿蘭-勃斯(Alan Boss)是該項(xiàng)研究的合著作者，他說：“這是一項(xiàng)驚人的天文發(fā)現(xiàn)！再一次地將科幻演變成現(xiàn)實(shí)！”當(dāng)《星球大戰(zhàn)》中出現(xiàn)擁有兩顆太陽的塔圖因行星時(shí)，許多科學(xué)家便猜測(cè)這樣的行星或許真地存在，目前這項(xiàng)最新研究得以證實(shí)。

這顆奇特行星環(huán)繞兩顆恒星運(yùn)行一周大約229個(gè)地球日，Kepler-16A和Kepler-16B恒星的質(zhì)量分別為太陽的69%和20%。這兩顆恒星彼此距離很近，平均僅為地日距離的五分之一，這比水星和太陽之間的距離更近。

9月15 日，諾爾在美國宇航局新聞發(fā)布會(huì)上發(fā)言稱，我們?cè)僖淮蔚乜吹娇茖W(xué)事實(shí)比科幻故事更具奇特性，這些將科幻演變?yōu)榭茖W(xué)事實(shí)的重大發(fā)現(xiàn)將使科學(xué)家更一步擴(kuò)大想象空間，探索我們的科學(xué)假想。

這顆行星被命名為Kepler-16(AB)-b，從它的衛(wèi)星角度觀測(cè)這顆行星前方有兩顆恒星，它環(huán)繞著兩顆恒星運(yùn)行，定期有規(guī)律地出現(xiàn)光線昏暗。當(dāng)兩顆恒星彼此環(huán)繞時(shí)，也出現(xiàn)被遮擋形成的日食現(xiàn)象?？傊ㄟ^開普勒探測(cè)器的觀測(cè)可使科學(xué)家精確地計(jì)算出這三顆星體的質(zhì)量、半徑和運(yùn)行軌跡。

Kepler-16(AB)-b與恒星之間的距離為地日距離的四分之三，它的體積與土星較為接近，雖然密度只有土星的50%，表明它富含重元素。位于加州山景城的地外文明搜索學(xué)會(huì)(SETI)的天體物理學(xué)家勞倫斯-道爾(Laurance Doyle)是該項(xiàng)研究負(fù)責(zé)人，他說：“據(jù)我們分析Kepler-16(A B)-b行星并不適宜居住?！?/p>

這顆奇特行星環(huán)繞兩顆恒星運(yùn)行一周大約229個(gè)地球日，Kepler-16A和Kepler-16B恒星的質(zhì)量分別為太陽的69%和20%。這兩顆恒星彼此距離很近，平均僅為地日距離的五分之一，這比水星和太陽之間的距離更近。兩顆恒星彼此環(huán)繞一周的時(shí)間大約41個(gè)地球日。

環(huán)繞兩顆恒星運(yùn)行的行星叫做“環(huán)雙星行星(circumbinary planets)”，兩顆恒星在空間運(yùn)行軌道環(huán)繞的一點(diǎn)叫做“多體質(zhì)心(barycenter)”，研究人員在多體質(zhì)心位置發(fā)現(xiàn)它們的軌道出現(xiàn)輕微變化，表明行星的存在導(dǎo)致兩顆恒星出現(xiàn)潮汐效應(yīng)。

Kepler-16(AB)-b行星是科學(xué)家探測(cè)到直接出現(xiàn)在恒星前方的第一顆行星，可短暫時(shí)昏暗恒星的光線。由于這顆行星與兩顆恒星幾乎同處于一個(gè)平面，研究人員認(rèn)為它們形成于同一個(gè)灰塵氣體盤。

道爾說：“目前我們知道如何去探測(cè)發(fā)現(xiàn)環(huán)雙星行星，我認(rèn)為我們應(yīng)當(dāng)很快地發(fā)現(xiàn)更多的環(huán)雙星行星?！蹦壳埃@項(xiàng)最新研究報(bào)告發(fā)表在9月16日出版的《科學(xué)》雜志上。

ニッケル使った燃料電池開発、従來品より安価に

九州大工學(xué)研究院の小江おごう誠司教授（觸媒化學(xué)）らの研究チームが、ニッケルとルテニウムによる分子觸媒を使った燃料電池の開発に成功した。

用化されている白金（プラチナ）觸媒を使った場(chǎng)合の25分の1の発電能力を確認(rèn)。高価な白金に代わる觸媒として期待できるという。12日付のドイツ化學(xué)會(huì)誌「アンゲバンテ?ケミー」の電子版に掲載された。

燃料電池は水素と酸素を使って電気をつくる。通常は、水素から電子を取り出して反応を促進(jìn)する觸媒に白金を使うが、資源量が少ないため、より安価な材料が求められている。

研究チームは、水素から電子を取り出してエネルギーにしているバクテリアの體內(nèi)にある酵素「ヒドロゲナーゼ」に注目した。2008年にニッケルとルテニウムを組み合わせ、酵素と同じ機(jī)能を持つ分子をつくることに成功。今回、この分子が燃料電池に使えることを確認(rèn)した。小江教授は、白金に比べ觸媒の価格は10分の1以下になると説明?！阜肿訕?gòu)造を改善すれば発電能力も向上する。自動(dòng)車の動(dòng)力源として使えるようにしたい」と話している。

日本開發(fā)出鎳釕催化劑燃料電池 可降低電池成本

日本九州大學(xué)研究人員在12日的德國《應(yīng)用化學(xué)》周刊網(wǎng)絡(luò)版上發(fā)表論文說，他們開發(fā)出了利用鎳和釕作催化劑的新型燃料電池，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)將有助于降低燃料電池的成本，從而推動(dòng)燃料電池車的普及。

燃料電池車依靠氫和大氣中的氧發(fā)生反應(yīng)，產(chǎn)生電能驅(qū)動(dòng)車輛，理論上排放的只有水。因此，燃料電池車被稱為“環(huán)保車”，吸引著各大汽車廠家競(jìng)相研發(fā)。

但是目前各種試制的燃料電池車，大多使用昂貴的鉑作為從氫中提取電子的催化劑，而九州大學(xué)新開發(fā)的燃料電池，使用價(jià)格不到鉑0.5‰的鎳充當(dāng)催化劑的主要原料，所以有望大幅降低成本。

九州大學(xué)教授小江誠司領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的研究小組，在2008年就研制出了鎳系新催化劑，此后一直利用這種催化劑開發(fā)燃料電池。新型燃料電池即使在高溫環(huán)境下也能穩(wěn)定運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。

不過，由于降低新催化劑電阻的技術(shù)尚未取得明顯進(jìn)展，現(xiàn)在這種新電池的發(fā)電量還只停留在使用鉑催化劑時(shí)的4%左右。小江誠司表示，今后將繼續(xù)研究，爭(zhēng)取使新電池發(fā)電量在不久的將來達(dá)到與鉑催化劑同等水平。研究小組還表示準(zhǔn)備與日本大發(fā)工業(yè)公司共同開發(fā)使用新催化劑的燃料電池車。

Antiviral restriction factor transgenesis in the domestic cat

Studies of the domestic cat have contributed to many scientific advances, including the present understanding of the mammalian cerebral cortex. A practical capability for cat transgenesis is needed to realize the distinctive potential of research on this neurobehaviorally complex, accessible species for advancing human and feline health. For example, humans and cats are afflicted with pandemic AIDS lentiviruses that are susceptible to species-specific restriction factors. Here we introduced genes encoding such a factor, rhesus macaque TRIMCyp, and eGFP, into the cat germline. The method establishes gametetargeted transgenesis for the first time in a carnivore. We observed uniformly transgenic outcomes, widespread expression, no mosaicism a n d n o F1 s i l e n c i n g. TRIMCyp transgenic cat lymphocytes resisted feline immunodeficiency virus replication. This capability to experimentally manipulate the genome of an AIDS-susceptible species can be used to test the potential of restriction factors for HIV gene therapy and to build models of other infectious and noninfectious diseases.

美科學(xué)家培育出夜光貓 可幫助治療艾滋病

美國科學(xué)家培育出能夠抵御貓科免疫缺陷病毒的發(fā)光貓，他們希望通過培育發(fā)光貓尋找到治療艾滋病的手段。研究過程中，他們借助一種可抵御一種類似艾滋病病毒的病毒的基因?qū)邑圖NA進(jìn)行改造，同時(shí)利用一種來自熒光水母的基因讓它們的身體在綠色紫外線照射下發(fā)光。

此項(xiàng)研究的目的旨在驗(yàn)證一種防止短尾猿感染艾滋病的天然蛋白質(zhì)如何在貓身上發(fā)揮作用。植入家貓的兩種基因彼此聯(lián)系在一起，水母基因用于追蹤另一個(gè)基因。在紫外線的照射下，轉(zhuǎn)基因家貓發(fā)出怪誕的綠光，說明蛋白質(zhì)已經(jīng)成功植入它們的組織，這項(xiàng)技術(shù)發(fā)揮作用。

轉(zhuǎn)基因貓打造者表示，這項(xiàng)研究將加速艾滋病疫苗和治療手段的研發(fā)速度。目前，艾滋病已經(jīng)奪去了3000多萬人的生命。類似艾滋病病毒的病毒同樣對(duì)貓科動(dòng)物——從家貓到大型貓科動(dòng)物——的健康造成嚴(yán)重破壞。這項(xiàng)研究能夠改進(jìn)動(dòng)物的健康。未來，人們可以買到對(duì)大量疾病具有免疫力的寵物，讓頻繁看獸醫(yī)和昂貴的接種疫苗費(fèi)用成為過去。此外，擁有夜光寵物也將成為一種可能。評(píng)論人士指出這項(xiàng)技術(shù)雖然有助于提高動(dòng)物福利，但科學(xué)家應(yīng)該減少實(shí)驗(yàn)動(dòng)物的數(shù)量。

研究過程中，美國梅奧診所的研究人員利用無害病毒將基因植入來自卵巢被切除的貓的卵子。一種基因產(chǎn)生熒光蛋白，另一種基因產(chǎn)生的蛋白可對(duì)抗貓科免疫缺陷病毒(貓科版的艾滋病病毒)。隨后，他們利用試管受精讓卵子受精，而后植入代孕母親體內(nèi)?！蹲匀?方法》報(bào)道稱，經(jīng)過22次嘗試，他們培育出5只發(fā)光貓，最后存活3只。其中2只身體健康，另1只則患上疾病，但研究人員并不認(rèn)為患病與基因改造有關(guān)。這種抗病毒基因同樣存在于從發(fā)光貓身上提取的細(xì)胞中，與普通貓相比，它們抵御貓科免疫缺陷病毒的能力更強(qiáng)。2只發(fā)光貓已經(jīng)孕育了自己的后代，子女同樣攜帶這些新基因。

Mo?ambique deverá ser a prazo um exportador“substancial” de gás natural

Mo ? a m b i q u e deverá ser a prazo um expor tador“substancial” de gás natural, com a projectada constru??o de um terminal de LNG na província de Cabo Delgado (norte), de acordo com a Economist Intelligence Unit.

As descobertas de gás efectuadas ao longo do último ano na regi?o pela norte-americana Anadarko Petroleum, salienta a EIU no seu mais recente relatório sobre Mo?ambique, dever?o ter confirmado a viabilidade do desenvolvimento de um terminal de gás natural liquefeito (LNG).

E s t i m a t i v a s n ? o confirmadas citadas pela Economist apontam para reservas mínimas de 10 bili?es de pés cúbicos (mais de 283 mil milh?es de metros cúbicos) de gás natural,“muitas vezes mais do que o único campo de gás actualmente em produ??o em Mo?ambique”, em Pande/ Temane (na província de Inhambane, sul do país).

“A produ??o (de Pande/ Temane) é exportada para a áfrica do Sul através de um gasoduto. (Mas) os depósitos de gás natural em Cabo Delgado est?o demasiado longe daquele gasoduto e de consumidores finais industriais na regi?o”, refere o relatório.

Esta situa??o”, adianta,“sugere que uma unidade de LNG para aceder ao mercado internacional de exporta??o é a única op??o realista para desenvolver” os novos campos descobertos.

C o m e s te p ro j e c to, M o ? a m b i q u e “p o d e tornar-se um exportador substancial” de gás natural, adianta o relatório.

A E I U p re vê q u e a s exporta??es mo?ambicanas r e g i s t e m u m i m p u l s o nos próximos dois anos, sustentadas pelo alumínio, car v?o, gás e produtos a g r í c o l a s, p e r m i t i n d o uma contrac??o do défice comercial em 2012.

Em Maio, a brasileira Vale iniciou a extrac??o de carv?o na sua mina em Moatize, província de Tete, e as exporta??es dever?o come?ar este mês de Julho, atingindo 1 milh?o de toneladas este ano.

Para o próximo ano, o objectivo de exporta??es é de 6 milh?es de toneladas, quase duplicando para 11 milh?es até 2014.

Já em opera??o está o depósito de areias pesadas de Moma, da irlandesa Kenmare Resources, e no final deste ano deverá iniciarse a produ??o de uma outra explora??o carbonífera, de Benga, da australiana Riverdale Mining.

Em grande parte devido ao crescente investimento em projectos de explora??o de recursos minerais e de infra-estruturas, a EIU prevê um crescimento médio de 7,4% ao ano para a economia mo?ambicana, em 2011 e 2012, com a infla??o a recuar para 5% no próximo ano.

P a r a a c o m o d a r a expans?o das exporta??es de carv?o, o porto de Maputo anunciou recentemente um programa de expans?o, estando a operadora do terminal carbonífero de M a to l a, a s u l-a f r i c a n a Grindrod, a concluir um estudo de viabilidade para mais do que duplicar a capacidade até 2014, para 20 milh?es de toneladas anuais.

O “forte crescimento”, refere a EIU, é partilhado pelo resto do porto, que inclui um terminal de contentores e outros de a?úcar e citrinos.

Este ano, as exporta??es através daquele por to dever?o atingir 12,6 milh?es de toneladas, mais do dobro das 5 milh?es de toneladas registadas em 2003.

A s o p e r a ? ? e s beneficiaram de melhores opera??es ferroviárias no porto, com o tempo de“turnaround” dos comboios da áfrica do Sul para Maputo a reduzir-se de uma média de 200 horas para apenas 90 horas.

A M a p u t o P o r t Development Company e s t i m a q u e, c o m u m i n v e s t i m e n t o d e 750 milh?es de dólares ao longo dos próximos 20 anos, a capacidade do porto poderá ser quadruplicada para 50 milh?es de toneladas.

莫桑比克不久將成為天然氣出口大國

英國《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》智庫稱，莫桑比克不久將成為一個(gè)天然氣出口大國，該國計(jì)劃在北部德爾加杜角省建立一個(gè)液化天然氣碼頭。

英智庫在最近一份莫桑比克研究報(bào)告中斷言，美國阿納達(dá)科石油公司去年在該地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)了天然氣，確定了液化天然氣碼頭建設(shè)方案的可行性。

英智庫援引未經(jīng)證實(shí)的估計(jì)數(shù)值稱，發(fā)現(xiàn)的天然氣儲(chǔ)量超過了10萬億立方英尺（2830億立方米），是莫桑比克目前唯一生產(chǎn)天然氣氣田：南部伊尼揚(yáng)巴內(nèi)省彭德/泰瑪尼氣田的“好多倍”。

報(bào)告稱：“彭德/泰瑪尼氣田生產(chǎn)的天然氣通過輸氣管道向南非出口?！薄?但是，)德爾加杜角省天然氣田離輸氣管道和該地區(qū)工業(yè)用戶太遠(yuǎn)了?！?/p>

報(bào)告補(bǔ)充說：“在這種情況下，就需要建立一個(gè)液化天然氣廠，連通國際出口市場(chǎng)，這是開發(fā)新發(fā)現(xiàn)氣田的唯一可行方法?！?/p>

報(bào)告稱，依靠這個(gè)項(xiàng)目，莫桑比克“不久將成為天然氣出口大國”。

英智庫稱，未來兩年，莫桑比克將繼續(xù)擴(kuò)大出口，主要出口產(chǎn)品是鋁、煤、天然氣和農(nóng)產(chǎn)品，因此，到2012年，莫桑比克的貿(mào)易赤字將進(jìn)一步縮小。

今年5月，巴西淡水河谷公司開始在莫桑比克太特省莫阿蒂澤煤礦采煤。淡水河谷公司將于今年7月開始出口煤炭，今年的煤炭產(chǎn)量將達(dá)100萬噸。

該公司計(jì)劃明年出口煤炭600萬噸，2014年將達(dá)1100萬噸，幾乎提高一倍。

愛爾蘭肯梅爾資源公司在楠普拉省的莫馬重砂礦已經(jīng)開始作業(yè)。澳大利亞Riversdale礦業(yè)公司的本戈煤礦也將在今年年底前開始采煤作業(yè)。

英智庫預(yù)測(cè)，主要由于加大了采礦和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施項(xiàng)目的投資力度，2011年至2012年期間，莫桑比克的年均經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)率將為7.4%，明年的通貨膨脹率將不超過5%。

為了滿足煤炭出口增長(zhǎng)的需求，馬普托港最近宣布了一項(xiàng)擴(kuò)建計(jì)劃。馬托拉碼頭管理公司：南非Grindrod船運(yùn)公司計(jì)劃在2014年將該碼頭的吞吐量提高到2000萬噸，項(xiàng)目可行性研究即將完成。

英智庫斷言，該港的其余部分也將“強(qiáng)勁擴(kuò)張”，包括一個(gè)集裝箱碼頭、糖碼頭、柑橘碼頭等。

今年該港的出口量將達(dá)1260萬噸，較2003年的500萬噸增長(zhǎng)一倍多。

鐵路運(yùn)輸條件的改善是馬普托港業(yè)績(jī)提高的原因之一。南非至馬普托之間列車往返時(shí)間已經(jīng)從200小時(shí)降至90小時(shí)。

馬普托港發(fā)展公司稱，計(jì)劃在未來20年內(nèi)投資7.5億美元，使港口年吞吐量達(dá)到5000萬噸，是現(xiàn)有能力的四倍。