5. Match the expressions with the functions.

Could you come down a bit on the price?

Any chance of a lower price from you?

I’ll have to ask my colleagues about that point.

What would be your lowest price for…?

I’m afraid I can’t say that at the moment.

Would you accept less than that?

I can’t give the answer to that at the moment.

Are you prepared to accept…?

What is your top price?

Could I ask you about…?

Asking for information (1)

Evasion (3)

Bargaining (6)

6. They are going to use oil. It will provide power for essential industries.

This oil is to be used to provide power for essential industries.

Rewrite these pairs of sentences in the same way.

1. We are going to use the lorries. They will take supplies from London to Scotland.

2. They are going to use the building. They will store raw materials in it.

3. We are going to use the money. It will provide us with more computers.

7. Asking for information.

In the information sharing session, you will have to ask your partner for information. This exercise will provide you with some suitable openers which you can use to ask questions.

Match each opener with a suitable second part to make sentences.

openers second parts

What I would like to ask is the price of the oil.

I wonder if I could ask you how much oil you need.

Could you tell me… when you can deliver.

What I need to know is… whether you will give us a reduction.

I’m afraid I have to know… how much you are prepared to pay.

Paired practice

Get together with a partner, and use the openers to ask him as many questions as you can on any subject. Your partner will also ask you questions which you should answer.

Information Sharing

You are: Mohammed Kaftar, the representative of Onasti Oil Inc., and it is your responsibility to find out all you can about the needs of the Armenian government. You haven’t sold any oil to them before, but Mr. Onasti is well known to them, as his airline uses the Capital City airport. You are going to a meeting with Victor Kane, the representative of the Armenian government, in order to get the information you need. You should therefore listen very carefully to what he has to say, and also provide him with the following information:

Detail of your requirements

1. You are prepared to offer them 5m barrels of crude oil at $60 per barrel. Oil is a very scares commodity at the moment, so you are not prepared to sell more than that. Also, you have several buyers offering higher prices. You are offering Armenian government a lower price because you want to remain on good terms with them.

2. You want the delivery date for the oil to remain flexible. You cannot guarantee any dates at the moment, as political troubles in the Middle East are making deliveries uncertain.

3. You want the payment for all the oil in advance.

4. You feel that you are doing the Armenian government a favour by selling them oil at all. Because of this, you want a reduction of 40% in the taxes on your income from Capital City airport.

Instructions:

Find out all you can about the following:

• how much oil the Armenian government needs

• how much they are prepared to pay

• when they want the oil

• how they want to pay for it

• whether they will give you a reduction in airport taxes.

This is not a bargaining session. Your objective is to find and give information. You should therefore listen very carefully to what the government representative has to say, so that you can report back to other Onasti Oil representatives later.

This “dialogue” takes the form of the news report read by Robin Snow.

Good morning. The recent political problems in the Middle East are threatening the supply of oil to Armenia. Mr. Armen Augonesyan , the economics Minister, made an official government statement on the problem last night. Speaking at the Parliament building in capital city, Mr. Armen Augonesyan said: “It is possible that the new oil crisis will lead to a state of emergency in Armenia. At the moment we do not have enough oil for essential services as the county’s electricity supply”.

When asked about the price Armenia would have to pay for oil supplies, the Minister went on to say: “Oil has been a scarce commodity for some time. The price last week was $50 per barrel, and even then it was difficult to get. This crisis could even mean that the price will double. We are hoping, however, to secure a contract that will provide us with oil at the old price”.

Mr. Armen Augonesyan went on to say that the government was negotiating a contract with Onasti Oil for 10 million barrels of oil. Mr. Onasti is well known to the Armenian government because his airline, Onasti Airlines, uses the airport at Capital City a great deal. Onasti also owns the world’s largest fleet of tankers, as well as dozens of other highly profitable industries. Onasti buys most of his oil in the Middle East, and transports it all over the world with his fleet of tankers. This, as well as his other lucrative interests, has brought him from the back streets of Cairo to become one of the world’s richest men.

It would seem that Mr. Armen Augonesyan is extremely optimistic when he says that Onasti will sell oil to Armenia at the old price of $50 per barrel. In many people’s opinion, the Armenian government will probably find that he doesn’t want to sell us any oil at all. There will be an emergency Cabinet meeting in the Parliament building tonight to discuss the problem. Here is the rest of the news.