Reading Comprehension

PT125 · S1 · P2 · Q11 Drilling Muds

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Passage A Drilling fluids, including the various mixtures known as drilling muds, play essential roles in oil-well drilling.

Central Topic / Purpose

Drilling muds / to describe something and highlight a problem associated with it

Main Point

Drilling muds are carefully calibrated liquids important in oil-well drilling, but their complexity and the opacity of their recipes make it hard to study their environmental impact.

Central Topic / Purpose

Environmental impact of drilling muds / to describe the different environmental impacts of different drilling muds

Main Point

Water-based mud isn't very harmful and can be tossed overboard, while oil-based muds are potentially harmful and their disposal is much more tightly regulated.

Relationship

Both passages shared similar topics (drilling mud / environmental impact). Passage A felt a little more like it was trying to highlight a potential problem, while Passage B is written more in the style of neutrally describing the potential harm of OBM's. Overall, they seem pretty complementary and overlapping.

11.

Based on information in the passages, which one of the following, if true, provides the strongest support for a prediction that the proportion of oil-well drilling using OBMs will increase in the future?

  1. The cost of certain ingredients

    Unclear Impact

    There are overlapping ingredients in WBMs and OBMs, so it's hard to say whether this would expand the use of OBMs. Also, given that WBMs and OBMs fulfill different purposes (shallow vs. deep drilling), it's not clear that an uptick in cost would even allow for a driller to switch from WBMs to OBMs for a shallow drilling task.

    4% picked this

  2. The deeper an offshore oil

    No Impact

    Great. This is true today, and it will still be true in the future. We need a fact where something changes In the future, in such a way that creates more demand for OBMs.

    6% picked this

  3. Correct

    Oil reserves at shallow depths

    Why this is right

    Yes, if future drilling will be primarily deeper, than there will be a higher proportion of OBM usage than before.

    Skill tested: Strengthen · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    82% picked this

  4. It is unlikely that oil

    Opposite

    This is saying something won't change, which certainly doesn't help us. And it's saying that one of the complications of using OBMs isn't going to get any easier / better.

    4% picked this

  5. Barite is a common mineral,

    No Impact

    This is true now and will be true in the future. Since it doesn't represent any change, it can't be a reason for more OBM usage in the future.

    3% picked this

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