Robert Rapier

Latest articles from Robert

• Spending Jeff Bezos’ $10 Billion For Climate Change

  Published 29 February 2020 | viewed 20,380 times

  Last week Jeff Bezos, founder, president and CEO of Amazon — and the world’s richest person — announced in an Instagram post that he would commit…

• Is Energy Storage As Clean As We Think?

  Published 20 February 2020 | viewed 9,809 times

  Since the turn of the century, there has been a global explosion in the production of renewable power. According to the 2018 BP Statistical Review…

• OPEC Aims To Balance Oil Markets Against All Odds

  Published 13 February 2020 | viewed 14,480 times

  As 2019 came to a close, oil prices were under pressure from the continued surge of U.S. shale oil. Although OPEC and its partners had…

• The “Black Swan” Event That Could Unravel OPEC’s Efforts

  Published 10 February 2020 | viewed 31,356 times

  The book “The Black Swan” was written by former Wall Street trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb to describe rare, outlier events that can’t be predicted beforehand,…

• Reinstating An Oil Export Ban Would Be A Disaster For The U.S.

  Published 03 February 2020 | viewed 14,461 times

  In December 2015, President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016. A provision of this bill repealed a crude oil export ban that…

• Oil Bankruptcies Are Reaching Worrying Levels

  Published 01 February 2020 | viewed 55,130 times

  Law firm Haynes and Boone recently released its updated Energy Bankruptcy Reports. These reports cover North American oil and gas producers, oilfield services and midstream bankruptcies from…

• Could Oil Prices Fall Below $50?

  Published 29 January 2020 | viewed 30,422 times

  One of my energy sector predictions for this year was that oil prices would not drop below $50 a barrel. This may turn out to…

• Which Is Safer For The Environment? Lithium-Ion Or Lead-Acid Batteries?

  Published 25 January 2020 | viewed 27,382 times

  Following recent articles I wrote on both lithium-ion and lead-acid batteries, I received significant correspondence about the environmental pros and cons of both types of battery. In this article…

• Oil Will Stay Above $50 Per Barrel In 2020

  Published 16 January 2020 | viewed 24,658 times

  We begin 2020 with the stock market again testing record highs. We just finished a year in which oil prices rose by more than 30…

• How The U.S. Has Reduced Its Dependence On Middle East Oil

  Published 15 January 2020 | viewed 13,871 times

  With tensions in the Middle East high, I have fielded a number of queries on how this might impact the world’s oil markets. Today I…

• This Was The Most Successful Energy Niche Last Year

  Published 13 January 2020 | viewed 9,496 times

  I had originally intended on presenting my 2020 energy sector predictions today, but those aren’t quite ready. I expect to publish that column no later…

• The Five Most Important Oil Stories Of 2019

  Published 31 December 2019 | viewed 13,119 times

  I close out every year with a story on how my annual predictions fared, followed by what I felt were the top energy stories of…

• How Accurate Were This Year's Oil Price Predictions?

  Published 30 December 2019 | viewed 19,529 times

  At the beginning of each year, I make several predictions about the energy sector for the upcoming year. You can see those predictions and read…

• Why Chevron’s $10 Billion Impairment Matters

  Published 25 December 2019 | viewed 31,351 times

  Chevron surprised a number of people last week when it announced that it would take a non-cash, after-tax impairment charges of $10 billion to $11…

• Will The Exxon Ruling Impact Future Climate Cases?

  Published 23 December 2019 | viewed 16,121 times

  As I explained last month in Exxon Knew. Did They, Though?, perceptions outside of an oil company are often at odds with what is happening…

• Is A New Price War Looming For OPEC?

  Published 12 December 2019 | viewed 12,254 times

  Last week OPEC, Russia and other oil-producing nations agreed to additional oil production cuts in an effort to support oil prices. Following the 177th Meeting…

• The World’s 10 Biggest Polluters

  Published 07 December 2019 | viewed 17,374 times

  About 200 countries are presently convened for the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 25 in Madrid. The Conference of the Parties to the UN…

• The Oil Company Built To Survive The Bear Market

  Published 05 December 2019 | viewed 26,379 times

  The oil and gas industry has had a rough ride since the oil price downturn of 2014. Over the past five years, the Energy Select…

• This Oil Niche Is Performing Well Even With Low Prices

  Published 23 November 2019 | viewed 21,271 times

  Energy stocks have had an up and down year. But one segment of the energy sector has been unfairly punished in my opinion, even though…

• There’s No Quick Fix To Global Emissions Growth

  Published 20 November 2019 | viewed 14,074 times

  Last week the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its World Energy Outlook (WEO) 2019. The WEO projects global energy supply and demand through 2040, under three different…