VOA标准英语2008年-US Oil Companies Finding More Oil in Old Fields

The price of oil has dropped around 20 percent in recent weeks, but remains¹ more than double what it was just a couple of years ago. The high price has given oil companies the incentive² to revisit old fields long ago abandoned as unprofitable. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Austin, Texas, new technology has made it possible to extract more oil from these old fields.
　
Oil field workers, known as roughnecks

In a remote cow pasture near the small town of Dew, Texas, workers are operating around the clock to extract oil from a field that was considered depleted³ a few decades ago.

Now, with high oil prices as an incentive, companies can use new techniques and equipment to extract still more petroleum⁴ from deposits thousands of meters below the surface.

In the School of Geo-Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, former director of the U.S. Geological Survey, Charles Groat, sees great opportunity for domestic oil companies in these old fields.
　
Charles Groat

"The old fields where people were comfortable with 20 or 30 percent recovery, now they go back in with new technologies and get an extra 20 or 30 percent out and expand the dimensions of the field," he said. "The drive for successful businesses will lead people into these fields as long as they can make money doing it and that has not shown any sign of abating⁵."

One of the men putting together deals to re-enter old fields is Jim Baldauf of Austin-based Apex⁶ Resources, Incorporated.

"Texas has a rich tradition of looking for Texas tea, black gold," he said.

Baldauf says many parts of the lone⁷ star state were covered with oil derricks 80 years ago when it was relatively⁸ easy to drill down, tap a reservoir of oil trapped in subterranean⁹ rock and pump it out. But he says the easy oil is long gone and getting more out is difficult and expensive.

One problem, Baldauf says, is that oil tends to be in vertical¹⁰ fractures in the rock that are difficult to hit with a drill.

"If you are trying to drill a vertical well bore, a vertical well bore trying to hit a vertical fracture, the odds¹¹ are not in your favor," he said. "Odds are you are going to hit to one side or the other."

But Baldauf says new horizontal drilling techniques make these deposits accessible.

"Instead of going down and having to hit one of these vertical fractures, what we can do is go down vertically¹² and then start to build a curve and then kick out and go sideways and intersect four, five or six of these fractures," said Baldauf.
　
An oil field worker

The United States produces more than eight million barrels of oil a day from its domestic wells, but the country uses more than 20 million barrels a day, importing oil from other countries to breach¹³ the gap. In spite of decades-long efforts to develop alternative energies, Charles Groat says people are likely to continue needing oil and natural gas for many decades to come.

"The demand growth for traditional fuels, transportation fuels in particular, is substantial in the United States and globally as well," he said. "So the demand for traditional hydrocarbons¹⁴ is going to grow, not shrink. Even if we move more and more into alternatives, we still are going to need to find more oil and gas, transport it and market it despite all the good things that might happen with alternatives and conservation."
　
Jim Baldauf in his hybrid¹⁵ car

But even a Texas oil man like Jim Baldauf recognizes that the country cannot continue to consume oil the way it does now for much longer.

That's why he drives a small hybrid car.

"Traditionally, a Texas oil man drives a Cadillac, right? But I think you will find that more and more of us are giving up the Cadillac to drive a more efficient vehicle," he said.

Baldauf is also co-founder of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil, USA. The theory behind peak oil is that world oil production is close to peaking, as domestic U.S. production did in 1970. Skeptics believe there is still much oil left to be discovered and developed around the world, but even they agree that getting that oil is going to be much more expensive. If the peak theory proves true, the intersection¹⁶ between rising worldwide demand and a decline in world production would likely drive prices much higher, giving drillers even more incentive to go after every last drop of oil they can find in old fields as well as new ones.

 

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

3 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

4 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

5 abating   

减少( abate的现在分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼）

参考例句：

• The storm showed no signs of abating. 暴风雨没有减弱的迹象。
• The recent public anxiety about this issue may now be abating. 近来公众对这个问题的焦虑心情现在也许正在缓和下来。

6 apex   

n.顶点，最高点

参考例句：

• He reached the apex of power in the early 1930s.他在三十年代初达到了权力的顶峰。
• His election to the presidency was the apex of his career.当选总统是他一生事业的顶峰。

7 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 subterranean   

adj.地下的，地表下的

参考例句：

• London has 9 miles of such subterranean passages.伦敦像这样的地下通道有9英里长。
• We wandered through subterranean passages.我们漫游地下通道。

10 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

11 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

12 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

13 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

14 hydrocarbons   

n.碳氢化合物，烃( hydrocarbon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Hydrocarbons (HC), like carbon monoxide, represent unburned and wasted fuel. 碳氢化合物(HC)像一氧化碳一样，为未燃尽的和被浪费掉的燃料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• With this restricted frequency range it is not applicable to hydrocarbons. 这个较紧缩的频率范围不适用于烃类。 来自辞典例句

15 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

16 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。