Robert Rapier's Contributions

Is the U.S. Really the World’s Top Oil Producer?

According to the recently-released BP (NYSE: BP) Statistical Review of World Energy 2014, the U.S. was the world’s largest and most diverse energy producer in 2014. The Statistical Review ranked the U.S...

OPEC Crashed the U.S. Rig Count

There is a popular narrative going around that I want to address in today’s article. Last November, after several months of plummeting crude oil prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) met to discuss the oil

Is Audi’s Carbon-Neutral Diesel a Game-Changer?

Occasionally I am deluged with inquiries about a particular news story. That happened this week. As the inquiries mounted, I decided I better address the story. After I saw one more gushing, uncritical report on CNN, I knew...

Highlights of the 2015 Annual Energy Outlook

Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its Annual Energy Outlook 2015(AEO2015). The report presents updated projections for U.S. energy markets through 2040 based on six cases...

Crude Prices Surge as the Pieces Fall Into Place

I have been pretty adamant — some may say stubbornly so — about my expectations for crude prices this year. I have argued against the notion that oil prices were going to fall to $20 or $30/bbl for several reasons.

Crude Oil Inventories Should Peak Soon

There are many moving parts in this storage picture. One of those, as I explained in the previous article, is refinery demand. This piece of the picture seems to be largely lost in the storage discussion, so...

Is the U.S. Running Out of Crude Oil Storage?

No, despite the popular narrative that we keep hearing, the U.S is not running out of crude oil storage. Yet there are those who are predicting that oil prices are going to fall to $20 or $30 a barrel, pointing to...

Washington Post: President Obama Is Lying About the Keystone Pipeline

I will preface this article with my standard disclaimer on the Keystone XL Pipeline project: I have no vested interest in the pipeline either way. My interest is in fostering honest debate and discussion on energy policy...

The Growing Risk of Transporting Crude Oil by Rail

By now you have probably heard that a CSX (NYSE: CSX) train carrying Bakken crude from North Dakota’s shale oil fields derailed and caught fire. The oil was bound for a coastal oil shipping depot owned by...

Robert Rapier on Oil Bottom, Economic Impacts, and 2015 Energy Predictions

Last Year 100% of Robert Rapier's Energy Predictions Came True

Feb 18 – Cris Sheridan welcomes Robert Rapier, director of alternative-fuels technology for Advanced Green Innovations LLC. Robert and Cris take a look at his predictions for this year when it comes to oil...

Oil Prices: Dead Cat Bounce or Have We Passed the Bottom?

When I made my energy predictions for 2015, I made some very aggressive predictions. Perhaps the most aggressive was that the closing price of West Texas Intermediate would not fall below $40/barrel (bbl) in 2015.

Why $50 Oil Won’t Last

In the past few weeks I have received numerous questions about the role of a “drop in demand” in the oil price decline. These questions are driven by many stories in the media that have referenced a drop in demand.

Top 10 Energy Stories of 2014

There was an energy story that stood head and shoulders above all the rest in 2014, but no clear runner-up. After the #1 entry on the list below, the rest of the Top 10 is highly debatable. I don’t think there is a consensus #2 story, and I don’t believe there is a well-defined...

Saudi Arabia Still Calling the Shots

There have been a lot of stories over the past few years about the implications of the U.S. shale boom. To review for those who might have been living in a cave for the past 5 years, the marriage of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has...

The Bell Tolls for KiOR

If there’s one thing billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has learned over the past decade, it’s that the oil companies aren’t as stupid as he thought. In 2004, Khosla was telling anyone who would listen to him that the only things standing in the way of...

U.S. Crude Oil Exports Headed to South Korea

One of the 2014 predictions that I made back in January was “The crude oil export ban will not be lifted in 2014.” The present ban on U.S. crude oil exports dates to the The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) of 1975.

U.S. Dominates Globe in Biofuel Production

Global biofuel production falls primarily into three categories; ethanol, biodiesel, and hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), also known as “green diesel.” Of the 30.8 billion gallons (116.6 liters) of biofuel produced globally in 2013, 23 billion gallons (75%) were ethanol.

Why Natural Gas Prices Collapsed

Over the course of the next two columns, I plan to finish up the recent look at BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2014. The final two columns will focus on renewable energy, and carbon dioxide emissions.

King Coal Deposed in West, but Reigns in East

In the U.S., coal consumption has been flat to declining for the past 20 years. Just since 2007, U.S. coal consumption has fallen by more than 20%. This is the primary reason the U.S. leads all countries in reducing carbon dioxide emissions over that same time period.

The U.S. and Russia Are Gas Giants

In 2013 global natural gas production advanced 1.1% to a new all-time high of 328 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd). Except for a one-year decline in 2008-2009, global gas production has risen fairly steadily for about three decades, and production has more than doubled during that time span...

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