Drilling for oil – past and present

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 778.

Complete the text below using the correct form (active or passive) of the verbs in brackets. Guess which branch of engineering the process described in the text relates to.

Long ago, wells (1) ________ (dig) in the ground using percussion drilling. A heavy wooden cutting tool (2) ________ (suspend) by a rope from a pulley on a wooden tripod. The tool (3) ________ (pull up) by hand or steam engine, and then it (4) ________ (drop) into the hole. The rock (5) ________ (break) by the weight of the tool. The maximum depth was only about 70 metres.

Nowadays, much deeper oil wells of 700 m (6) ________ (dig) using a method called rotary drilling. A sharp drill bit (7) ________ (suspend) by a drill string from a pulley on a steel derrick. The drill bit (8) ________ (rotate) in the hole by a powerful engine. The rock (9) _______ (break) by the rotation of the drill bit.

Now there is also a new method of drilling which (10) ________ (cut) the rock using lasers. No cutting tool or drill bit (11) ________ (use). Instead, the rock (12) ________ (split) by beams of high-energy light. A fibre-optic cable (13) ________ (carry) the light from the lasers on the surface down the hole to a set of lenses. The lenses then (14) ________ (focus) the light to a sharp point on the rock face, which (15) ________ (cut) almost 100 times faster than by a drill bit. As a result, the cost of drilling (16) ________ (reduce), and drilling jobs (17) ________ (complete) much more quickly.

8. Read the text and say if the sentences are true or false. Correct the false ones:

1) “Engineering” is the name of the profession of an engineer.

2) The term “engineering” originally referred to military engines.

3) Civil engineering was a discipline studying the construction of non-military projects.

4) William Gilbert was the inventor of the electric motor.

5) Industrial revolution began at the end of the 17^th century with the invention of the steam engine.

6) The need for large scale production of chemicals gave rise to development of chemical engineering.

7) Aeronautical engineering dates back to early times.