首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
考研
Judging by the $23 billion it earned last year, these should be the best of times for Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy giant that r
Judging by the $23 billion it earned last year, these should be the best of times for Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy giant that r
admin
2010-02-22
69
问题
Judging by the $23 billion it earned last year, these should be the best of times for Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy giant that ranks third among the top five Western oil companies. But Wall Street isn’t celebrating. Instead, analysts are worried that buried beneath the record profit figures are worrying signs of a business in decline.
That’s because Shell hasn’t been able to find nearly as much oil and gas as it’s now pumping out of the ground. In fact, it hasn’t even come close—replacing only 60% to 70% of what it produced in 2005 and only 19% in 2004. Shell has had reserve problems for years—a controversy over improperly booked assets forced it to reduce estimated reserves by roughly 30% and led to the resignation of its CEO, Phil Watts, in 2004. But what’s troubling now is that Shell is falling way behind rivals like Exxon and BP despite spending billions more each year on exploring and drilling new wells. Last year Exxon replaced 112% of production; BP came up with 95%. "I have never seen anything like this," says Fadel Gheit, a veteran energy analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. "Shell used to represent the gold standard in this industry, but lately they can’t get their act together."
To be sure, Shell still has huge assets—nearly 12 billion barrels. But in the oil and gas industry, reserve replacement is the best guide to whether a company will be able to maintain-or grow-production in the future. So not replacing what you pump, says longtime industry observer Matthew Simmons, "is like eating your seed corn. If you’re not finding new oil, you’re just liquidating what you’ve got." Indeed, Shell’s daily production figures have been weak lately, falling 6.7 % in 2005, to 3.52 million barrels a day.
Privately, Shell execs say the company’s decision to cut spending for exploration when oil prices bottomed out in the late 1990s is partly to blame for the anemic numbers now. Shell CEO Jeroen Vander Veer insists that projects like those on Sakhalin Island off Siberia and in Nigeria and the Gulf of Mexico will enable the company to start catching up with peers in the years ahead. It won’t be easy. "If you’re not adding to reserves, you have a problem," says Sanford Bernstein analyst Oswald Clint. "Shell will have to run twice as hard just to stay in place."
选项
A、is a hidden process.
B、is caused by the profit last year.
C、is the estimation of Wall Street.
D、is the fault of the CEO.
答案
C
解析
推理判断题。根据题干中的Shell定位至首段。开篇指出Shell公司的辉煌成绩:去年赚了230亿美元。第二句话锋一转:华尔街却不为此欣喜。末句对此说明:分析家们担心在这项破纪录的利润数字后面隐藏着生意下滑的不妙前景。由此可知壳牌公司生意滑坡是华尔街分析家们做出的预测。"a hidden process"是对末句中buried beneath的解释,但这里说的只是一种推断而已,并非已经确定的过程,hidden process的含义是虽然看不见,但确实存在,这与原意不符。第二段首句提到Shell生意可能下滑的原因:没有找到足够多的石油和天然气,排除"caused by the profit last year"。第二段第三句提到壳牌CEO Phil Watts于2004年辞职,这是由于前面提到的壳牌多年来存在的问题,这与首段分析家们对该公司生意下滑的预测无关,排除"the fault of the CEO"。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/5I44777K
0
考研英语一
相关试题推荐
Theworldisonthetopofastaggeringriseinthenumberofoldpeople,andtheywilllivelongerthaneverbefore.【C1】_______
Yourcameraissnatched.Willyoueverseeita-gain?Probablynot.Butitmaysendpostcardsfromitsnewowner.The【C1】_______
Yourcameraissnatched.Willyoueverseeita-gain?Probablynot.Butitmaysendpostcardsfromitsnewowner.The【C1】_______
Fordecadesthemarketforexpensiveheadphoneswasmainlylimitedtohi-fifans.But【C1】________theboxystereosysteminthec
Fordecadesthemarketforexpensiveheadphoneswasmainlylimitedtohi-fifans.But【C1】________theboxystereosysteminthec
Fordecadesthemarketforexpensiveheadphoneswasmainlylimitedtohi-fifans.But【C1】________theboxystereosysteminthec
Fordecadesthemarketforexpensiveheadphoneswasmainlylimitedtohi-fifans.But【C1】________theboxystereosysteminthec
Globalwarmingcausedbyhumanemissionsofgreenhousegasesishavingcleareffectsinthephysicalworld:moreheatwaves,hea
Runningmaybethesinglemosteffectiveexercisetoincreaselifeexpectancy,accordingtoanewreviewandanalysisofpastre
McDonald’s,Greggs,KFCandSubwayaretodaynamedasthemostlitteredbrandsinEnglandasKeepBritainTidy【C1】________fast-f
随机试题
下面叙述中,正确的是_____________。
教育起源于儿童对成人的无意识模仿。
关于栓塞的叙述,下列哪项是正确的
关于戒酒综合征.错误的说法是
花坛花卉选用标准为()。
互斥投资方案的选优决策中,一般适宜采用()作为决策依据。
YouaresupposedtowriteaMemorandumofabout100wordstotheprospectiveparticipantsinaninternationalconferenceforaca
Researchhasshownthat—inbothsexesandacrossnumerouscultures—attractivepeoplearejudgedtobesmarter,kinder,morehone
Mori:I’mpleasedtomeetyouhere.Kaco:______
PersistentandEmergingChallengesVocabularyandExpressionshydrocarbonsegregationimplementationimpedeacceler
最新回复
(
0
)