2015考研英语阅读ETP竞购Sunoco_大学英语阅读

2015考研英语阅读ETP竞购Sunoco

　　And the oil business is looking peachy. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate fetches around $100, even as gas prices recently hit a ten-year low. This has encouraged gas producers to scurry after oil in liquid-rich shale beds such as the Bakken in North Dakota. To do this, they use the same rigs and techniques, such as fracking and horizontal drilling, as they use for gas. Within a few years the Bakken and other shale beds could be producing up to 3m barrels of oil a day, reckon optimists. That is around a third of current imports.

　　原油业务看起来也相当不错。尽管最近天然气的价格跌至十年来的低点，每桶WTI 原油价格仍在100美元上下徘徊。受此刺激，天然气生产商急忙去含油丰富的页岩层里寻找石油，如北达科他的贝根页岩层。他们用同样的钻井和技术，如水力压裂和水平钻井去找油。乐观估计，几年内贝根及其他页岩层的产能将升至日产三百万桶原油。这相当于目前原油进口量的三分之一。

　　Owning the pipes that make all this possible should be lucrative. America has long failed to invest in pipes, since investors assumed that the country would continue to rely on imports. So there is too little capacity in many places where it is now needed. And American buyers are clamouring for more oil from Canada, which will also need pipes. Targets like Sunoco are rare. ETP was wise to swoop on it.