I. You are going to read the text about the future of gas storage technology. Before reading it discuss the following questions

• In what ways can existing storage technologies be improved?
• What other technologies can be used to store natural gas?

II. Now read the text and decide whether statements A-E are true (T) or false (F) according to the text or no information (N) is given in the text.

Future of storage technology

Research is being conducted on many fronts in the gas storage field to help identify new improved and more economical ways to store gas. Research being conducted by the US Energy department is showing that salt formations can be chilled allowing for more gas to be stored. This will reduce the size of the formation needed to be treated, and have salt extracted from it. This will lead to cheaper development costs for the salt formation storage facility type. Another aspect being looked at, are other formations that may hold gas. These include hard rock formations such as granite, in areas where such formations exist and other types currently used for gas storage. In Sweden a new type of storage facility has been built, called a "lined rock cavern". This storage facility consists of installing a steel tank in a cavern in the rock of a hill and surrounding it with concrete. Although the development cost of such facilities is quite expensive, their ability to cycle gas multiple times compensates for them, similar to salt formation facilities. Finally, another research project sponsored by the Department of Energy, is that of hydrates. Hydrates are compounds formed when natural gas is frozen in the presence of water. The advantage being that as much as 181 standard cubic feet of natural gas could be stored in a single cubic foot of hydrate.

There is no way to improve gas capacity of salt cavern reservoirs.
Hard rock formations can be used in areas where currently used types of gas storage are not available
High construction costs of a “lined rock cavern” make it totally economically inefficient.
Gas hydrates can be stable only under special temperature and pressure conditions.
Hydrates can store almost two hundred times as much volume of natural gas as their own volume.

UNIT 3

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF OIL AND

NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY

Text 1

I. You are going to read the text about ecological aspects of oil and gas industry. Before reading it discuss the following questions.

●What are the environmental impacts of producing and using crude oil and natural gas?

●What are key actions being taken by industry and government to reduce those impacts?