4. 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.

4. 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!

Polluting wastes generation
Sea plants (birds, mammals, shellfish)
Ocean habitats
Oil exploration Oil release
Offshore oil extraction
Thin oil coating
Vehicles movement
Body insulation description Spill duration
Oil well fire
Carbon monoxide

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.