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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.

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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.

Your answers to questions 28 to 30 must be based on
the text below entitled "The real medicine":

The real medicine
Source: Newsweek (adapted)
Oct 17th 2005

People who survive a heart attack often
describe it as a wake-up call. But for a 61-year old
executive I met recently, it was more than that. This
man was in the midst of a divorce when he was
stricken last spring, and he had fallen out of touch
with friends and family members. The executive´s
doctor, unaware of the strife in his life, counseled him
to change his diet, start exercising and quit smoking.
He also prescribed drugs to lower cholesterol and
blood pressure. It was sound advice, but in combing
the medical literature, the patient discovered that he
needed to do more. Studies suggested that his risk of
dying within six months would be four times greater
if he remained depressed and lonely. So he joined
a support group and reordered his priorities, placing
relationships at the top of the list instead of the bottom.
His health has improved steadily since then, and so
has his outlook on life. In fact he now describes his
heart attack as the best thing that ever happened to
him. "Yes, my arteries are more open," he says. "But
even more important, I´m more open."

Your answers to questions 25 to 27 must be based on the
text below entitled "Flight of the French":

Flight of the French
Source: Newsweek (adapted)
Sept 26th/Oct 3rd 2005

The Belgians call them "fiscal refugees", but these
refugees wear Chanel. They are runaways from high
taxes in France. Officially, France has lost, on average,
one millionaire or billionaire tax payer per day for tax
reasons since 1997, when the government started trying
to track capital flight. Privately, economists say the
number is much higher. "The statistic is stupid," holds
French economist Nicolas Baverez. "It's as if, to count
contraband, you only counted what people declared at
the border."
While much of Europe has revised its tax codes, France's
fiscal inertia is virtually begging its rich to leave. Holding dear
its commitment to égalité and fraternité, France has bucked
the trend in the European Union, where most member states
have dropped the wealth tax since the mid-1990s. France
went the opposite way in 1997 by abolishing a cap that limited
the wealth-tax bill, which kicks in at incomes over 720,000
euros to 85% of a taxpayer's income. The result: some pay
more taxes than they earn in income.

Your answers to questions 21 to 24 must be based on the
text below entitled "A dip in the middle":

A dip in the middle
Source: The Economist (adapted)
Sep 8th 2005

Income tax has been paid in Britain for more
than two centuries. First introduced by William Pitt the
Younger to finance the war against Napoleonic France,
it is the Treasury´s biggest source of revenue, raising
30% of tax receipts. It arouses strong political emotions,
regarded as fair by some because it makes the rich pay a
bigger share of their income than the poor, but unfair by
others because it penalizes enterprise and hard work.
During the past 30 years, income tax has been
subject to sweeping changes, notably the cut in the top
rate from 98% to 40% under Margaret Thatcher between
1979 and 1988. Now another Conservative politician,
George Osborne, is floating a radical reform to match
that earlier exploit. The shadow chancellor announced
on September 7th that he was setting up a commission
to explore the possible introduction of a flat income tax
in Britain.
Introducing a flat income tax into Britain would
involve two main changes. At present, there are three
marginal tax rates. These three rates would be replaced
by a single rate, which would be considerably lower than
the current top rate. At the same time there would be an
increase in the tax-free personal allowance, currently
worth 4,895 pounds.

READ TEXT I AND ANSWER QUESTIONS 21 TO 25:

TEXT I

The integral approach strategies adopted by
Favela-Bairro consist of proposals of integrated and
participative actions. The path that goes from welfare
to work should combine programs and services for
human and social development with labor and incomegeneration
opportunities. To be viable, however, social
promotion interventions should be focused on
geographical areas with a high concentration of poverty,
specifically on the poorest families.
An intersectoral decentralized and participative
approach can produce synergetic effects capable of
providing greater impact for poverty and inequality
reduction policies, and capable of contributing to their
sustainability.
Although Favela-Bairro has been based on the idea
of integrated urban infrastructure interventions, initially
the program did not incorporate all the basic components
of an integral approach strategy. These components
were gradually incorporated into its design as a result
of the participatory process and the transformations
that occurred in the municipal administration.
Favela-Bairro is the result of an evolving process
that resulted in the creation of a typical integral
development model with a territorial base that
incorporates life-cycle perspectives.
Rio de Janeiro inhabitants, either living in favelas
or not, recognize the importance of the Favela-Bairro
program. A public opinion poll carried out in 2003 asked
cariocas (as Rio residents are called) to choose from
a list of governmental programs the one to which the
next mayor should give priority. Favela-Bairro was
chosen in first place in all three rounds of the survey.
The same institute asked respondents about the most
important project for the city, and again Favela-Bairro
ranked first: 26.1 percent of respondents have elected
Favela-Bairro as more important than programs such
as minimum income, popular restaurants, and even
essential works in major city roads.

(www.worldbank.org on September 10, 2005)