If you can translate these word-combinations your total score is 72. Congratulations! 1 page

Task 7. Oil Transport at Sea

I.Word usage and common errors.

a)Research is an uncountable noun.

Y I’m doing some research on the industrial development of my country.

X I’m doing some researches on the industrial deve­lopment of my country.

b)Qualifications = the necessary ability, examination passes, experience (for a particular job).

Y I’m taking another course to improve my qualifications.

X I’m taking another course to improve my qualification.

II.Pronunciation practice. Read the words and underline the adverbs.

Approximately, deadweight, equal, considerably, although, roughest, hazard, occur, maneuverability, deliberately, collision, procedure, substantial, petroleum, residues.

III.Read the text quickly. Divide it into five paragraphs. Give the title to each paragraph. Divide the paragraphs into: general idea, description of the particular aspect, conclusion.

Oil transport at sea

Approximately 4000 tankers are plying the seas of the world, moving petroleum from sources to users. Tankers are the source of the roughest volume of oil spilled at sea. Tanker sizes have been increasing during recent years. Where once most of the world’s oil transported at sea was by tankers of deadweight tonnage (dwt) under 50,000, today a large number of supertankers of at least 100,000 dwt is in operation. Deadweight tonnage is the total weight of the ship’s cargo, fuel, and stores, excluding the weight of the ship itself. For tankers deadweight tons are nearly equal to the amount of petroleum carried, because fuel and stores are minor by comparison. Tankers over 200/000 dwt are called very large crude carriers (VLCCs); those over 500,000 dwt are called ultra large crude carriers (ULCCs). The oil companies prefer the larger tankers because their use considerably reduces the

cost of shipping oil. For each 1000 tons of petroleum delivered in a 250,000-dwt tanker over 20,000 km, only 20 tons of fuel are consumed to propel the ship. However, supertankers, although cheaper to build and operate than the smaller tankers, have limited maneuverability and deep drafts. This in turn de­creases their ability to avoid collisions and running aground. The crash stop distance for a 200,000-dwt tanker is about 3.2 km, and the time it takes to stop is about 11 minutes.

It is probable that the estimates of oil spilled from tankers are too low. Ninety percent of the oil spilled at sea from tan­kers is spilled deliberately. The unloading procedure for tan­kers is so inefficient that substantial petroleum residues remain in the tanks. The tankers then use seawater as ballast on the return trip to the oil fields; and the contaminated seawater is pumped out prior to reloading. Many tankers haul grain on the return trip, so they go offshore to flush out their tanks with seawater prior to taking on the grain.

A system called LOAD-ON-TOP (LOT) is used for most modern tankers and greatly reduces the amount of oil dis­charged at sea. In this procedure the oil-water mixture in cargo tankers is allowed to settle so that the oil rises and lies on top of the water. The water is pumped out from under the oil and the remaining oil is retained on board to combine with the next shipment. The use of LOTs has reduced the amount of pollution put into the oceans by tankers.

Nearly 2 billion tons of oil are transported annually along the principal crude oil routes at sea. It is evident that the major amount of oil transport is from the Middle East to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope and to Japan via the Straits of Malacca between Sumatra and Malaysia.

The greatest hazards occur as the tankers get near shore or into narrow channels, where a failure of the steering mecha­nism or poor navigation can result in an accident and a spill. Steps are being taken to improve tanker operations and to reduce the risks of collisions through better navigational equipment and improved traffic control systems. Although

the world may never be free of tanker accidents, we can minimize the opportunities for them to occur.

IV.Make up word -combinations with the preposition of or using possesive case.

1. seas/world - seas of the world

2. source/oil spilled__________________________________

3. most/oil/world ____________________________________

4. tankers/deadweight tonnage__________________________

5. large number/supertankers___________________________

6. supertankers/at least 100,000 dwt_____________________

7. total weight/cargo, fuel, and stores/ship_________________

8. weight/ship______________________________________

9. amount/petroleum _________________________________

10.cost/shipping _____________________________________

V.Match the beginning and the end of the sentences and read the extract.

1. Crude oil tankers are used to carry the crude oil ...

2. In general, these vessels.«

3. The carrying capacity of these crude oil tankers...

4. In contrast to product tankers, crude oil tankers have a limited number of tanks,...

5. The large draft of the larger tankers restricts the sailing routes...

6. Crude oil tankers receive their cargoes...

7. The oil is pumped on board...

8. To discharge cargo, the ship’s pumps in the pump room...

a) ...by shore pumps.

b) ...usually approximately 15 plus two tanks.

c) ...has risen to as much as 500,000 tons.

d) ...from a loading port near an oil field or from the end of pipeline to a refinery.

e) ...are very large.

f) ...and limits the number of ports that can be called for loading or discgarge the cargo.

g) ...through pipes from shore facilities.

h) ...draw the oil from the cargo tanks.

VI. Fill in the gaps with the words given below.

Refineries, petrochemical, crude oil (2), tankers,

tanks, approximately, piping systems, discharge, pump

Product tankers

“Product” refers to the products of _______ and the

______________ industries instead of__________________________ .

Product have a large number of____________________________ _ with

a total carrying capacity of’__________________ 50,000 tons. The

_______________________ on a product tanker are different

from the system on _______________ tankers. Normally every

tanker has its own filling and______________________ line and its own

cargo__________________ .

VII. From the list of possible cargoes choose and under­line the possible cargo for product tanker.

Oil products like gasoline, kerosene, naphta, diesel oil, lub­ricating oil, bitumen, vegetable oil, wine, drinking water, acids, alcohol, edible oil, petrochemical products, coal, ore, grain,, fertilizer, cement, liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas, similar liquefied gases, containers.

VIII.Answer the questions.

1. What is the purpose of crude oil tankers?

2. What classes are the large crude oil tankers subdivided into?

3. What factors limit the number of ports that can be called and restrict the sailing routes of large oil tankers?

4. How do oil tankers receive and discharge their cargoes?

5. What tankers are cheaper to build?

6. When do the greatest hazards occur?

What steps are being taken to improve tanker operation and to reduce the risks of collisions?

8. What are the principal crude oil routes at sea?

9. What is the purpose of product tankers?

10. What are the usual possible cargoes for product tankers?

IX.Make up six sentences beginning with It is probable that... or It is evident that...

Model: It is probable that the estimates of oil spilled from tankers are too low.

X.Guess the words and make up the crossword.

1. This country has over 200,000 miles of them to move petroleum from one place to another.

2. The tools and pipes used to drill oil are kept in it.

3. This is where petroleum products such as gasoline, are made from crude oil.

4. Oil companies are drilling them to find underground petroleum.

5. In the Gulf of Mexico they are used to pump oil.

6. After oil reservoirs are found, it has to be pumped out of the ground.

7. They lived millions of years ago. Petroleum is formed from the remains of them.

8. We use this petroleum product to fuel our automobiles.

9. We use this petroleum product to fly airplanes.

Check yourself!

If you can translate these word-combinations your total score is 84. Congratulations!

Task 8. Ecological and Environmental Impacts

I.Word usage and common errors.

a)As a subject either and neither are correctly followed by a singular verb or pronoun. There is nothing wrong with using either or neither as adjectives for more than two. When they are used as pronouns, they are replaced by any and none for more than two.

Y Come on either on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

X Either/neither of the twins; any/none of the triplets.

b)Certainly goes immediately after the first auxiliary verb. Where there is no auxiliary verb, certainly is placed immedia­tely before the main verb.

Y I will certainly try harder the next time.

X I certainly will try harder the next time.

II.Pronunciation practice.

Exploring, drilling, seismic, sensing, double-lining, hunting, coating, poisoning, blending, drinking, refining, creature, disturb, extraction, significant, generation, per joule, nautical, depending.

III.Read and translate the text which is given in tables. Choose the title to each part of the table. Possible variants: Oil spills, Extraction, Global warming

The presence of oil has significant social and environmental impacts, from accidents and routine activities such as seismic exploration, drilling, and generation of polluting wastes not produced by other alternative energies.

IV.True or false?

1. Exploring and drilling for oil may disturb land and ocean habitats. New technologies have greatly reduced the num­ber and size of areas disturbed by drilling, sometimes called “footprints”.

2. Satellites, global positioning systems, remote sensing devices, and 3-D and 4-D seismic technologies make it possible to discover oil reserves while drilling fewer wells. Plus, the use of horizontal and directional drilling makes it possible for a single well to produce oil from much bigger areas.

3. When a leak in a storage tank or pipeline occurs, petro- leum products can also get into the ground, and the ground must be cleaned up. To prevent leaks from underground stora- ge tanks, all buried tanks are supposed to be replaced by tanks with a double-lining.

4. The most serious ecological and environmental impacts of oil exploration, drilling, and production occur in aquatic habitats.

5. Exploration, drilling, and production on land each re- quire roads and often pipeline corridors.

6. Noise and dust are associated with the movement of ve- hicles.

V. Fill in the gaps with the words given below.

Environment, release, oil, organisms, conditions, biota,

operations, spilled, surface, bottom (2), composition, aquatic, coating, petroleum (2)

Impacts on biota

Oil released to the aquatic__________ will produce a variety

of impacts depending on quantity, chemical___________________

time, and duration of_________ , location, weather_____________ ,

and cleanup_____________ . Oil_____________ will either float

on the_____________ or settle to the______________ if adsorbed

on sediment. The impact of_____________ an discharge will be

greatest on the______________ at or near the surface and on the

benthic organisms at the_______________ . Oil can cause death to

___________ biota by some or all of the following mechanisms:

(1)___ ,___________ and asphyxiation; (2) poisoning through

ingestion of toxic____________________ compounds; (3) poiso- ning from exposure to toxic water-soluble compounds;

(4) disruption of body insulation and loss of buoyancy. The

impact of these mechanisms on_______________ is usually more

acute in juvenile forms than in adults.

VI.Make up sentences and put them into negative form.

1. Offshore/marine/the surrounding/extraction/of oil/

disturbs/environment.

2. is/Oil/extraction/and environmentally/costly/damaging.

3. have already/Smaller/impact/a great/spills/proven/to have/on ecosystems.

4. at sea/Oil spills/much more/on land/are generally/ damaging/than /those.

5. can kill/Coating/organisms/of oil/all alive/it coats.

6. and drilling/may/land and ocean/habitats/Exploring/ for oil/disturb.

VII.Put in the correct verb form.

Oil well fires can____________ (to cause) the loss of mil-

lions of barrels of crude oil per day. Combined with the eco- logical problems (to cause) by the large

amounts of smoke and unburnt petroleum falling back to

earth, oil well fires such as those______ (to see) in Kuwait can

cause enormous economic losses.

Smoke from burnt crude oil ftp contain)

many chemicals, including sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, soot, benzopyrene, Polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and dioxins. Exposure to oil well fires _r fto cite) as a cause of the

Gulf War Syndrome; however, studies________ (to indicate)

that the firefighters who______ (to cap) the wells_______ (to

report, not) any of the symptoms suffered by the soldiers.

VIII.Fill in the necessary (simple, comparative or super- lative) form of adjective or adverb.

New technologies have the greatest/greatly reduced the number and size of areas disturbed by drilling. Satellites, glo- bal positioning systems, remote sensing devices, and more modern/modern seismic technologies, make it more possible/ possible to discover oil reserves while drilling fewer/few wells. Plus, the use of horizontally/horizontal and directional/ directionally drilling makes it possible for a single well to pro- duce oil from much the biggest/bigger areas.

The more serious/most serious ecological and environ- mental impacts of oil exploration, drilling, and production occur in aquatic habitats. However, even terrestrial ecosys- tems are disturbed and must be restored, or the impacts must

be mitigated, particular/particularly in more fragile environ- ments such as arctic habitats.

IX.Prepare the current paper or presentation illustrating oil pollution and its impact on environment. Possible topics for presentations:

1. Oil activities in the Arctic. Past, Present and Future.

2. Effects of petroleum hydrocarbons on biota and humans.

3. Risk assessment for marine ecosystems under the im­pact of offshore oil production.

Check yourself!

If you can translate these word-combinations your total score is 96. Congratulations!

Section 2. Additional reading

From the History of Petroleum Industry The Middle East petroleum industry was established by the 8th century, when the streets of the newly constructed Baghdad were paved with tar, derived from easily

accessible petroleum frOm natural fields in the region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around modern Baku, Azerbaijan, to produce naphtha. These fields were described by the geographer Masudi in the 10th century, and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. Petroleum was distilled by Persian chemist al-Razi in the 9th century, producing chemicals such as kerosene in the al-ambiq (alembic).

The earliest mention of American petroleum occurs in Sir Walter Raleigh’s account of the Trinidad Pitch Lake in 1595; whilst thirty-seven years later, the account of a visit of a Fran­ciscan, Joseph de la Roche d’Allion, to the oil springs of New York was published in Sagard’s Histoire du Canada. A Russian traveller, Peter Kalm, in his work on America published in 1748 showed on a map the oil springs of Pennsylvania.

In 1711 the Greek physician Eyrini d’Eyrinis discovered asphalt at Val-de-Travers. He established a bitumen mine de la Presta there in 1719 that operated until 1986. Oil sands were mined from 1745 in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, Alsace under the direction of Louis Pierre Ancillon de la Sablonniure, by special appointment of Louis XV. The Pechelbronn oil field was active until 1970, and was the birth place of companies like Antar and Schlumberger. The first modern refinery was built there in 1857.

Oil Wells — Pages of History

The earliest known oil wells were drilled in China in 347 BC. They had depths of up to about 800 feet (240 m) and were drilled using bits attached to bamboo poles. The oil was burned to evaporate brine and produce salt. By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs. The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the use of natural gas for lighting and heating. Petroleum was known as burning water in Japan in the 7th century.

Petroleum was distilled by the Persian alchemist Muham- mad ibn Zakaroya RBzi (Rhazes) in the 9th century, producing chemicals such as kerosene which was mainly used for kero- sene lamps, Arab and Persian chemists also distilled crude oil in order to produce flammable products for military purposes» Through Islamic Spain, distillation became available in Westem Europe by the 12th century.

Some sources claim that from the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around modern Baku, Azerbaijan, to produce naphtha for the petroleum industry These fields were described by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who characterized the output of those oil wells as hundreds of shiploads. When Marco Polo in 1264 visited the Azerbaijani city of Baku, on the shores of the Caspian Sea, he saw oil being collected from seeps. He wrote that “on the confines toward Geirgine there is a fountain from which oil springs in great abundance, inasmuch as a hundred shiploads might be taken from it at one time”.

Shallow pits were dug at the Baku seeps in ancient times to facilitate collecting oil, and hand-dug holes up to 35 meters (115 ft) deep were in use by 1594. These holes were essentially oil wells. Apparently 116 of these wells in 1830 produced 3,840 metric tons (about 28,000 barrels) of oil. In 1849, Rus- sian engineer F.N.Semyenov used a cable tool to drill an oil well on the Apsheron Peninsula, ten years before Colonel Drake’s famous well in Pennsylvania. Also, offshore drilling started up at Baku at Bibi-Eibat field near the end of the 19th century, about the same time that the "first” offshore oil well was drilled in 1896 at Summerland field on the California Coast.

The earliest oil wells were drilled percussivelyby hamme- ring a cable tool into the earth. Soon after, cable tools were rep- laced with rotary drilling, which could drill boreholes to much greater depths and in less time. The recorddepth Kola Bore- hole used nonrotary mud motor drilling to achieve a depth of over 12,000 meters (38,000 ft). Until the 1970s, most oil wells were

vertical (although different lithology and mechanical imper- fections cause most wells to deviate at least slightly from true vertical). However, modern directional drilling technologies allow for strongly deviated wells which can, given sufficient depth and with the proper tools, actually become horizontal. This is of great value as the reservoir rocks which contain hyd- rocarbons are usually horizontal, or sub-horizontal; a hori- zontal wellbore placed in a production zone has more surface area in the production zone than a vertical well, resulting in a higher production rate. The use of deviated and horizontal drilling has also made it possible to reach reservoirs several ki- lometers or miles away from the drilling location (extended reach drilling), allowing for the production of hydrocarbons located below locations that are either difficult to place a drilling rig on, environmentally sensitive, or populated.

Crude Oil Refinery

Raw or unprocessed (“crude”) oil is not useful in the form it comes in out of the ground. Although “light, sweet” (low viscosity, low sulfur) oil has been used directly as a burner fuel for steam vessel propulsion, the lighter elements form explo- sive vapors in the fuel tanks and so it is quite dangerous, espe- cially so in warships. For this and many other uses, the oil needs to be separated into parts and refined before use in fuels and lubricants, and before some of the byproducts could be used in petrochemical processes to form materials such as plastics, detergents, solvents, elastomers, and fibers such as nylon and polyesters. Petroleum fossil fuels are used in ship, automobile and aircraft engines. These different hydrocarbons have diffe- rent boiling points, which means they can be separated by dis- tillation. Since the lighter liquid elements are in great demand for use in internal combustion engines, a modern refinery will convert heavy hydrocarbons and lighter gaseous elements into these higher value products.

Oil can be used in so many various ways because it contains hydrocarbons of varying molecular masses, forms and lengths

such as paraffins, aromatics, naphthenes (or cycloalkanes), alkenes and alkynes. Hydrocarbons are molecules of varying length and complexity made of only hydrogen and carbon atoms. Their various structures give them their differing properties and thereby uses. The trick in the oil refinement process is se- parating and purifying these.

Once separated and purified of any contaminants and im- purities, the fuel or lubricant can be sold without any further processing. Smaller molecules such as isobutane and propylene or butylenes can be recombined to meet specific octane require- ments of fuels by processes such as alkylation or less commonly, dimerization. Octane grade of gasoline can also be improved by catalytic reforming, which strips hydrogen out of hydrocarbons to produce aromatics, which have much higher octane ratings. Intermediate products such as gasoils can even be reprocessed to break heavy, long-chained oil into a lighter shortchained one, by various forms of cracking such as fluid catalytic cracking, thermal cracking, and hydrocracking. The final step in gasoline production is the blending of fuels with different octane ratings, vapor pressures, and other properties to meet product specifications.

Oil refineries are large scale plants, processing from about a hundred thousand to several hundred thousand barrels of crude oil per day. Because of the high capacity, many of the units are operated continuously (as opposed to processing in batches) at steady state or approximately steady state for long periods of time (months to years). This high capacity also makes process optimization and advanced process control very desirable.

Ecological and Environmental Impacts Birds

Thousands of birds have been the victims of oil spills. The Santa Barbara oil rig blowout in 1969 is estimated to have killed more than half the population of loons and grebes in the

Santa Barbara Channel. Oil reduces the insulating quality of a bird’s feathers sufficiently to cause a rapid loss of body heat and the onset of pneumonia or of hypothermia. Buoyancy of a bird’s feathers can be sufficiently reduced to cause drowning. Preening by the bird of oil-contaminated feathers can cause death by ingestion of the oil into the digestive tract, where inflammation or poisoning occurs. Short of immediate morta- lity through the loss of insulation, a bird’s metabolic rate in- creases, preening interferes with normal food gathering, and starvation results. Reproduction can be affected when oil ham- pers the laying and hatching of eggs. One of the important pro- perties of eggs is their porosity to oxygen and carbon dioxide but not to water. A coat of oil on an egg interferes with this delicate gas exchange and causes death to the unborn chick.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 721