首页
登录
职称英语
How many years will it be before the world runs out of oil? The question i
How many years will it be before the world runs out of oil? The question i
游客
2023-11-22
35
管理
问题
How many years will it be before the world runs out of oil? The question is far from an academic exercise. This year oil hit a near record high of $40 a barrel, and Royal Dutch/Shell Group downgraded its reserves by 4.5 billion barrels.
While consumers pay for perceived shortages at the pump, scientists and economists struggle to reach consensus over "proven oil reserves," or how much oil you can realistically mine before recovery costs outstrip profits. Economist Leonardo Maugeri fired up the debate that accused the "oil doomsters" of crying wolf.
Oil pessimists estimate that maximum oil production around the globe will peak in 2008 as demand rises from developing economies such as China. "If you squeezed all the oil in Iraq into a single bottle, you could fill four glasses, with the world consuming one glass of oil each year," says a physicist. "We’ve consumed nine bottles since oil was discovered, and we have another 9 or 10 in the refrigerator. How many more are there? Some say five or six, but we say three."
Others believe, like Maugeri, that the number of glasses is virtually limitless. John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute, argues that peak oil-production estimates are so far off that. "Ever since oil was first harvested in the 1800s, people have said we’d run out of the stuff," Felmy says. In the 1880s a Standard Oil executive sold off shares in the company out of fear that its reserves were close to drying up. Some scientists said in the 1970s that we’d hit peak oil in 2003. It didn’t happen.
If there is an end to the debate, advanced oil-recovery technologies will most likely find it. A new seismic survey technique, for instance, sends sound waves of varying frequencies thousands of meters belowground. Microphones arrayed aboveground record the reflected signals, and computer software models a 3-D portrait of possible oil hot spots. The surveys have now added a fourth dimension, creating a time-lapse simulation of fluid movements.
Companies are also finding sophisticated ways to mine more oil from existing wells. Flexible, coiled-tube drills that carve out horizontal side paths are a marked improvement over conventional, rigid drills that move only straight down. Using such technology, companies hope to soon harvest 50 to 60 percent of oil from existing wells, up from today’s 35 percent.
Biotechnology, too is keeping the black gold flowing. University of Albert scientists are searching for microorganisms that could dilute viscous, hard-to-recover oil and make it flow more freely.
"Technology can help push peak oil production further and further out," says an expert. But only time will tell when oil production will peak. [br] According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
选项
A、How long the oil age will last is simply an academic question.
B、The oil price this year set a new record.
C、Shell Group reduced its reserves to 4.5 billion barrels this year.
D、Economists disagree with one another on how much oil you can realistically mine.
答案
D
解析
根据文章第一、二段可知此题应选D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3208795.html
相关试题推荐
Fornearlyacenturybeforetherewassuchathingasaspaceprogram,aview
"let’stakeawalkbeforewestarttostudy.""Oh,Ithinkit’s_______forwalki
Ascientificdiscoveryisoftenmade【C1】______beforesomeoneisabletopu
Ascientificdiscoveryisoftenmade【C1】______beforesomeoneisabletopu
Ascientificdiscoveryisoftenmade【C1】______beforesomeoneisabletopu
Ascientificdiscoveryisoftenmade【C1】______beforesomeoneisabletopu
Ascientificdiscoveryisoftenmade【C1】______beforesomeoneisabletopu
Ascientificdiscoveryisoftenmade【C1】______beforesomeoneisabletopu
Ascientificdiscoveryisoftenmade【C1】______beforesomeoneisabletopu
Ascientificdiscoveryisoftenmade【C1】______beforesomeoneisabletopu
随机试题
Ayoungster’ssocialdevelopmenthasaprofoundeffectonhisacademicprogr
Thewell-knownformula:S→r…s→RwasputforwardbyA、Bloomfield.B、Firth.C、Hocke
[originaltext]Moderator:HelloLadiesandGentlemen,itgivesmegreatplea
当采用S曲线比较法时,如果实际进度点位于计划S曲线的右侧,则该点与计划S曲线的垂
Theseaturtle'snaturalhabitathasbee
前列腺增生患者行B超检查,膀胱逼尿肌处于失代偿状态是指残余尿量超过A.10ml
无法直接查明开关柜异常声响的部位、原因时,可采用()判断。地电压检测等带电检测技
甲诉乙侵权纠纷一案,法院通过调解结案,并制作了调解书送达双方当事人。则下列说法中
毕生发展观认为()。 (A)心理发展贯穿人的一生,老年期也在发展 (
装修材料按其燃烧性能划分为四级,以下正确的是()。A.A级:不燃性 B.B
最新回复
(
0
)