One of My 2018 Energy Sector Predictions was “The U.S. will break its all-time oil production record.” I wrote that I believed it was nearly a sure bet for 2018. I thought it would happen in the first half of the year, but what nobody knew at the time… Read More
It's hard to imagine anyone better suited to covering the energy-investment waterfront than Robert Rapier.
Robert is no armchair analyst—he has two decades of in-the-trenches experience in a wide range of fossil fuel and biofuel technologies, including refining, natural gas production, gas-to-liquids, ethanol production and butanol production.
During a six-year stretch at ConocoPhillips, Robert ran a team of engineers in Scotland working on oil and gas projects in the North Sea.
For two years, Robert was an efficiency expert in a Texas petrochemical plant. The process changes he implemented saved the facility $9 million a year. He later worked as the Engineering Director for a Dutch environmental-technology company and provided engineering support for a Chinese facility the company was constructing.
Robert was also a butanol engineer in Germany for the Celanese Corporation, where he designed a novel butanol unit that cut production costs by $5 million per year.
In all, Robert has spent more than a dozen years working on liquid fuels technologies. Along the way he's picked up five patents, including one for a breakthrough way to convert ethane into ethylene (U.S. Patent 7,074,977).
Now, in addition to guiding readers to timely investments in Utility Forecaster and Rapier's Income Accelerator, Robert travels the world evaluating startup energy companies for deep-pocketed investors. After grilling management and assessing the technology on-site, he makes a go/no-go investment decision. His wealthy private investors and hedge fund backers trust him to make the right choice for the same reason we do: his vast real-world experience in just about every facet of the energy industry. If Robert votes thumbs-up, millions of dollars flow into these cutting-edge outfits.
Robert earned his master of science in chemical engineering and a bachelor of science in chemistry and mathematics (double major) at Texas A&M University. He tells us he was "this close" to finishing his Ph.D. before he decided he was having a lot more fun making money in energy stocks.
A prolific writer, Robert's articles have appeared in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the Christian Science Monitor -- and he has been a featured expert on 60 Minutes and The History Channel. His new book, Power Plays: Energy Options in the Age of Peak Oil (Apress, 2012), helps investors sort through doom and gloom, hype and misinformation to understand the true costs, benefits and trade-offs for each of our major energy options.
In what little spare time he has left, Robert consults for a number of energy projects, including biodiesel, ethanol, butanol and biomass gasification facilities.
Analyst Articles
BP's latest Energy Outlook made headlines last week when it moved up the timing of peak oil demand. But investors in the energy sector have no reason to panic. Read More
Although Master Limited Partnerships remain in a bear market, one unconventional MLP has risen well above the pack. Read More
The current bull market has endured nine years without a major correction, but it got a bit ahead of itself over the past two months. Read More
The current sell-off shouldn't alarm investors too much -- provided you have the right plan and are sticking to it. Read More
Last year one of my stock picks closed the year down 5% from my purchase price. Here's how I still made money on my shares. Read More
The stock market turns on fear and greed. The key to long-term wealth-building is learning to ignore these emotions in favor of cold logic. Read More
Look for U.S. oil production to reach a new record high in 2018. Also look for the patience of Tesla investors to be tested this year. Read More
The year in energy was dominated by a rollback of Obama-era regulations, and a strong recovery in the oil sector. Read More
Before rushing to become the next bitcoin millionaire, let me share what I learned about risk from a compulsive gambler many years ago. Read More