PART TWO
·Read the following text.
·Choose the best sentence from the list A—H to fill each of the blanks.
·For each blank (8—12) mark one letter (A—H) on your answer sheet.
·Do not mark any letter twice.
U. S. light crude for September delivery settled at $47.27, up 52 cents, on the New York Mercantile. Exchange, then rose another 23 cents in after-hours trading.
(8) .
On London’s International Petroleum Exchange, Brent crude futures for October delivery touched a record $43.40 before settling at $43.03 a barrel Wednesday, up 4 cents from Tuesday’s floor trade close.
Crude oil futures have now set a record high in 14 of the past 16 trading sessions in New York.
Analysts point to recent developments in Iraq, Russia and Venezuela, however, (9) .
"There are some signs that things are getting better," said Tom Bentz, a trader at BNP Paribas Futures in New York, the Associated Press reported.
"But the market is still in a very bullish mode," he added.
(10) , prices are still below the peaks of 1981 and 1991. Wednesday’s price rally was helped by an Energy Department report that showed declines in U. S. inventories of oil and gasoline. U.S. oil demand so far this year is up 3.5 percent.
Surging demand in China, India and other emerging economies are adding to supply pressures.
(11) , and its imports are up 40 percent year-on-year to the end of July, according to recent data.
But analysts note a number of positive signs. Among them:
—Rebel Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accepted a peace plan Wednesday to end fighting in Najaf, Iraq.
—Officials at Russia’ s rail transport monopoly said China has agreed to step in and pay transportation fees to ensure that it continues to receive Yukos oil if the company is unable to cover the costs.
—Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez survived a recall vote Sunday, decreasing the likelihood of turmoil within the ranks of the state-run oil company.
Before the latest round of violence in Najaf; Iraq had been exporting roughly 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, (12) , according to a source within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries who spoke on condition of anonymity.