ENGL 145 English for Business I
Additional Worksheet # 2
Oil and the Future

1.	No one knows precisely how much oil there is in the world—or will be. No one in the oil industry can put a finger on the total oil available to be brought to market for the next 20 years. According to British Petroleum's Statistical Review, between 1980 and 2002, the Middle East and Venezuela reported a combined 373 billion barrel increase in proven oil reserves—essentially accounting for roughly 70 percent of the oil growth in the entire world in 2002—raising the question: Why is it that OPEC's oil has been increasing, while the rest of world's reserves are becoming depleted?
2.	The output for an average oil field, according to geologists, declines by about 4.8 percent a year. In 2000, oil production worldwide was about 77 million barrels a day. By 2005, existing fields will be producing 60 million barrels a day—47 million by 2010. US fields have been declining for 30 years; Britain's reserves are dwindling fast. In 2004, analysts were forecasting a net growth in non-OPEC oil (not counting Russia) of zero.
3.	Collin Campbell, a retired British geologist who worked for major oil companies from 1957 to 1995, has predicted that production will peak around 2005. The British independent energy analysis firm Douglas-Westwood warns that "the world is drawing down its oil reserves faster than ever and is facing a future of oil price increases". In a research about Saudi oil, Matthew Simmons, chief executive of an American investment bank concluded that the Saudi oil—like many others in the US and elsewhere—are past their prime.
4.	For decades, oil executives have assured us that the "technical revolution" in oil drilling - 3 D seisms, horizontal drilling, multilateral well completion and deep-ocean production techniques - would keep supplies growing easily. Instead, Simmons claimed that the technical revolution created a monstrous decline rate and the days of the "easy flow" of oil are over. He also adds that the world faces a giant crisis. His main arguments are:
•	The kingdom's five elephant wells, which were discovered between 1940 and 1965 and have delivered 90 percent of all Saudi oil from 1951 to 2000, are peaking. In fact, they would already have peaked if the Saudis hadn't injected water into them to drive oil to the wellhead. This easy flow is coming to an end.
•	Ghawar, the "king" of the Saudis' giant oil fields and the largest oil reservoir in the world—and the source of between 55 and 60 percent of all the oil Saudi Arabia has produced—is 90 percent depleted.
•	No independent, third-party inspector has examined the Saudi fields for years. Aramco's last field-by-field proven reserve estimates for Ghawar were made in 1975.
•	The next generation of Saudi oil fields 'will prove challenging and expensive to exploit and the results will not be risk-free because of issues of sand control, rising water cuts, low pressure, and other obstacles.
5.	The Saudis have disagreed vehemently with Simmons. They insist that they still have the capacity to pump plenty of oil for decades to come. Independent analysts and scientists say: "Even if the Saudis do have as much oil as they claim, the new oil they are drilling will be more and more expensive to get into the market. But the real reason for the high price of oil, as always, was the supply-demand imbalance, which is not to disappear soon. All the world's huge oil discoveries were made more than 35 years ago. Oil fields are depleting. There are many who swear that oil prices will soon decline and stay down. But where will the oil come from to keep prices down? So far there has been no reply.
Adapted From GFI (Sept. 2005, pp38-39)
A.	Answer the following questions based on the reading

1)	In what parts of the world is the production of oil increasing?

________________________________________________________________________

2)	Why did the Saudis disagree with Matthew Simmons?

________________________________________________________________________

3)	Name two methods which would keep supplies increasing?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

4)	What is the real reason for the high price of oil?

________________________________________________________________________

5)	Why will Saudi oil fields be challenging and expensive to exploit in the future?

________________________________________________________________________

B.	What do the following refer to?

1)	its (paragraph 3, line 3): _________________________________________ 
2)	their (paragraph 3, line 7): _________________________________________
3)	His (paragraph 4, line 5): _________________________________________  
4)	they (paragraph 5, line 3): _________________________________________
5)	which (paragraph 5, line 5): _________________________________________

C.	Fill in the blanks with the words from the list. There will be more words than required.

Whole	Estimated	Producing	Exactly	Production	
Shared	Peak	Weakens	Grow	Decreasing	
Increase	Frightening	Predicting	Approximately	Major 	

No one knows	______________how much oil there is in the world—or will be.
According to British Petroleum's Statistical Review, between 1980 and 2002, the
Middle East and Venezuela reported a______________373 billion barrel increase in
proven oil reserves—essentially accounting for______________70 percent of the
oil growth in the ______________world in 2002—raising the question: “Why is it
that OPEC's oil has been increasing, while the rest of world's reserves are becoming
depleted?”
The ______________for an average oil field, according to geologists,
______________ by about 4.8 percent a year. In 2000, oil production worldwide was
about 77 million barrels a day. US fields have been declining for 30 years; Britain's
reserves are ______________ fast. In 2004, analysts were ______________a net
______________ in non-OPEC oil (not counting Russia) of zero.
Collin Campbell, a retired British geologist who worked for major oil companies from
1957 to 1995, has ______________that production will ______________around 2005.
.
For decades, oil executives have assured us that the "technical revolution" would keep
supplies growing easily. Instead, Simmons claimed that the technical revolution
created a ______________decline rate and the days of the "easy flow" of oil are
over. He also adds that the world faces a giant crisis.

D.	Find in the reading passage words or expressions which have the same meaning as the following:

1)	offer-need discrepancy: _______________________________________
2)	not including: _______________________________________
3)	strongly: _______________________________________
4)	reducing the amount of something until there is nothing left: _____________________________
5)	not easy: _______________________________________
6)	verified: _______________________________________
7)	shared: _______________________________________