Questões de Concurso Sobre interpretação de texto | reading comprehension em inglês

The oil and natural gas industry has developed and
applied an impressive array of innovative technologies to
improve productivity and efficiency, while yielding
environmental benefits. According to the U.S. Department
of Energy, "the petroleum business has transformed itself
into a high-technology industry."
State-of-the-art technology allows the industry to
produce more oil and natural gas from more remote
places - some previously unreachable - with significantly
less adverse effect on the environment. Among the
benefits: increased supply to meet the world's growing
energy demand, reduced energy consumption at oil and
natural gas facilities and refineries, reduced noise from
operations, decreased size of facilities, reduced
emissions of pollutants, better protection of water
resources, and preservation of habitats and wildlife.
With advanced exploration and production
technologies, the oil and gas industry can pinpoint
resources more accurately, extract them more efficiently
and with less surface disturbance, minimize associated
wastes, and, ultimately, restore sites to original or better
condition.
Exploration and production advances include
advanced directional drilling, slimhole drilling, and 3-D
seismic technology. Other segments of the industry have
benefited from technological advances as well. Refineries
are becoming highly automated with integrated process
and energy system controls; this results in improved
operational and environmental performance and enables
refineries to run harder and produce more products safer
than ever before. Also, new process equipment and
catalyst technology advances have been made very
recently to meet new fuel regulations requiring very low
levels of sulfur in gasoline and diesel.
Technology advances such as these are making it
possible for the oil and natural gas industry to grow in
tandem with the nation's energy needs while maintaining
a cleaner environment. The industry is committed to
investing in advanced technologies that will continue to
provide affordable and reliable energy to support our
current quality of life, and expand our economic horizons.
For example, we are researching fuel cells that may
power the vehicles of tomorrow with greater efficiency
and less environmental impact. We are investigating ways
to tap the huge natural gas resources locked in gas
hydrates. Gas hydrates are common in sediments in
the ocean's deep waters where cold temperatures and
high pressures cause natural gas and water to freeze
together, forming solid gas hydrates. Gas hydrates could
be an important future source of natural gas for our nation.
Some of our companies are also investigating
renewable energy resources such as solar, wind,
biomass and geothermal energy. By conducting research
into overcoming the many technological hurdles that limit
these energy resources, they hope to make them more
reliable, affordable and convenient for future use. Although
the potential for these energy resources is great,
scientists do not expect them to be a significant part of
the nation's energy mix for many decades. For this
reason, the industry must continue to invest in
conventional resources such as oil and natural gas. We
will need to rely on these important energy resources for
many decades to come.

The oil and natural gas industry has developed and
applied an impressive array of innovative technologies to
improve productivity and efficiency, while yielding
environmental benefits. According to the U.S. Department
of Energy, "the petroleum business has transformed itself
into a high-technology industry."
State-of-the-art technology allows the industry to
produce more oil and natural gas from more remote
places - some previously unreachable - with significantly
less adverse effect on the environment. Among the
benefits: increased supply to meet the world's growing
energy demand, reduced energy consumption at oil and
natural gas facilities and refineries, reduced noise from
operations, decreased size of facilities, reduced
emissions of pollutants, better protection of water
resources, and preservation of habitats and wildlife.
With advanced exploration and production
technologies, the oil and gas industry can pinpoint
resources more accurately, extract them more efficiently
and with less surface disturbance, minimize associated
wastes, and, ultimately, restore sites to original or better
condition.
Exploration and production advances include
advanced directional drilling, slimhole drilling, and 3-D
seismic technology. Other segments of the industry have
benefited from technological advances as well. Refineries
are becoming highly automated with integrated process
and energy system controls; this results in improved
operational and environmental performance and enables
refineries to run harder and produce more products safer
than ever before. Also, new process equipment and
catalyst technology advances have been made very
recently to meet new fuel regulations requiring very low
levels of sulfur in gasoline and diesel.
Technology advances such as these are making it
possible for the oil and natural gas industry to grow in
tandem with the nation's energy needs while maintaining
a cleaner environment. The industry is committed to
investing in advanced technologies that will continue to
provide affordable and reliable energy to support our
current quality of life, and expand our economic horizons.
For example, we are researching fuel cells that may
power the vehicles of tomorrow with greater efficiency
and less environmental impact. We are investigating ways
to tap the huge natural gas resources locked in gas
hydrates. Gas hydrates are common in sediments in
the ocean's deep waters where cold temperatures and
high pressures cause natural gas and water to freeze
together, forming solid gas hydrates. Gas hydrates could
be an important future source of natural gas for our nation.
Some of our companies are also investigating
renewable energy resources such as solar, wind,
biomass and geothermal energy. By conducting research
into overcoming the many technological hurdles that limit
these energy resources, they hope to make them more
reliable, affordable and convenient for future use. Although
the potential for these energy resources is great,
scientists do not expect them to be a significant part of
the nation's energy mix for many decades. For this
reason, the industry must continue to invest in
conventional resources such as oil and natural gas. We
will need to rely on these important energy resources for
many decades to come.

REPORT: BIOFUELS POISED TO DISPLACE OIL

Biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel can
significantly reduce global dependence on oil, according
to a new report by the Worldwatch Institute.
Last year, world biofuel production surpassed 670,000
barrels per day, the equivalent of about 1 percent of the
global transport fuel market. Although oil still accounts for
more than 96 percent of transport fuel use, biofuel
production has doubled since 2001 and is poised for even
stronger growth as the industry responds to higher fuel
prices and supportive government policies. "Coordinated
action to expand biofuel markets and advance new
technologies could relieve pressure on oil prices while
strengthening agricultural economies and reducing climatealtering
emissions," says Worldwatch Institute President
Christopher Flavin.
Brazil is the world's biofuel leader, with half of its
sugar cane crop providing more than 40 percent of its nondiesel
transport fuel. In the United States, where 15 percent
of the corn crop provides about 2 percent of the non-diesel
transport fuel, ethanol production is growing even more
rapidly. This surging growth may allow the U.S. to overtake
Brazil as the world's biofuel leader this year. Both countries
are now estimated to be producing ethanol at less than
the current cost of gasoline.
Figures cited in the report reveal that biofuels could
provide 37 percent of U.S. transport fuel within the next 25
years, and up to 75 percent if automobile fuel economy
doubles. Biofuels could replace 20-30 percent of the oil
used in European Union countries during the same time
frame.
As the first-ever global assessment of the potential
social and environmental impacts of biofuels, Biofuels for
Transportation warns that the large-scale use of biofuels
carries significant agricultural and ecological risks. "It is
essential that government incentives be used to minimize
competition between food and fuel crops and to discourage
expansion onto ecologically valuable lands," says
Worldwatch Biofuels Project Manager Suzanne Hunt.
However, the report also finds that biofuels have the potential
to increase energy security, create new economic
opportunities in rural areas, and reduce local pollution and
emissions of greenhouse gases.
The long-term potential of biofuels is in the use of
non-food feedstock that include agricultural, municipal, and
forestry wastes as well as fast-growing, cellulose-rich
energy crops such as switchgrass. It is expected that the
combination of cellulosic biomass resources and "nextgeneration"
biofuel conversion technologies will compete
with conventional gasoline and diesel fuel without subsidies
in the medium term.
The report recommends policies to accelerate the
development of biofuels, while maximizing the benefits and
minimizing the risks. Recommendations include:
strengthening the market (i.e. focusing on market
development, infrastructure development, and the building
of transportation fleets that are able to use the new fuels),
speeding the transition to next-generation
technologies allowing for dramatically increased
production at lower cost, and facilitating sustainable
international biofuel trade, developing a true
international market unimpeded by the trade restrictions
in place today.