Questão 30593

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

5 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

10 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

15 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

20 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

25 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

30 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.

35 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

40 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

45 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

50 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

55 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

60 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.

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