Robert Rapier

Latest articles from Robert

• Why Gasoline Prices Often Rise In Spring

  Published 17 April 2021 | viewed 4,506 times

  Although it wasn’t strongly emphasized in the recent discussions on the rise in gasoline prices, those prices to rise nearly every spring. But why does it happen?…

• From JFK To Trump: U.S. Oil Production By President

  Published 14 April 2021 | viewed 13,560 times

  Over the past 60 years, U.S. oil production has seen its ups and downs. From the decline that began in 1970 through the fracking boom…

• Bush, Obama, Or Trump: Who Was Best From Gasoline Prices?

  Published 01 April 2021 | viewed 14,787 times

  Last week I filled up with gasoline, and the price was over $3.00 a gallon. It’s been a long time since I paid that much…

• Why The West Is Worried About China's Renewable Energy Dominance

  Published 17 March 2021 | viewed 16,765 times

  Over the past decade, no major energy source has grown faster than solar power. According to the 2020 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, installed…

• Why Gasoline Prices Will Continue To Rise

  Published 10 March 2021 | viewed 44,474 times

  This past week the national average price for regular gasoline rose to $2.71 per gallon. That marks an increase of $0.46/gallon since the beginning of the year. …

• Is Biden’s Energy Plan Too Ambitious?

  Published 27 February 2021 | viewed 11,332 times

  You may count me among those who want to see society move beyond fossil fuels. We all know there are negative consequences associated with fossil…

• Investment In Battery Tech Exploded In 2020

  Published 22 February 2021 | viewed 2,677 times

  Last fall Swedish lithium-ion battery maker Northvolt announced that it had raised $600 million in equity to invest in capacity expansion, research and development, and…

• Why Big Oil Isn’t Worried About Biden’s Executive Orders

  Published 06 February 2021 | viewed 28,014 times

  In late 2019, as various candidates jockeyed to win the Democratic nomination for president, Elizabeth Warren made the statement that she would “ban fracking everywhere.”…

• Did President Biden Really Ban Fracking?

  Published 03 February 2021 | viewed 19,082 times

  In late 2019, as various candidates jockeyed to win the Democratic nomination for president, Elizabeth Warren made the statement that she would “ban fracking everywhere.”…

• 5 Oil And Gas Predictions For 2021

  Published 27 January 2021 | viewed 62,806 times

  When I made my 2020 predictions a year ago, the world was on the cusp of a pandemic that would upend the oil markets. In…

• How Microsoft Looks To Eliminate All The Carbon It Ever Emitted

  Published 21 January 2021 | viewed 3,373 times

  In January 2020, Microsoft launched a company-wide focus on sustainability by announcing an ambitious goal and a detailed plan to become carbon negative by 2030,…

• The Best-Performing Energy Stocks Of 2020

  Published 14 January 2021 | viewed 3,245 times

  In 2020, the energy sector got hit with the triple-whammy of a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, demand destruction as a result of…

• The Top 5 Energy Stories Of 2020

  Published 31 December 2020 | viewed 3,181 times

  Some years there is an energy story so big that there’s no question it belongs at the top of the list. The Deepwater Horizon oil…

• The Countries Set To Win Big On The Lithium Boom

  Published 24 December 2020 | viewed 22,899 times

  Last week I read a press release that piqued my interest. Vancouver-based Lithium Americas Corp. announced that they had received an environmental impact statement (EIS)…

• The COVID-19 Pandemic Is Fueling A Record Decline In Emissions

  Published 29 November 2020 | viewed 2,988 times

  Last week BloombergNEF (BNEF) published a new report that quantifies the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. The report estimates that…

• Australia’s Ambitious $16 Billion Solar Project Will Be The World’s Biggest

  Published 23 November 2020 | viewed 15,019 times

  The world’s most ambitious renewable energy project to date is the proposed Australia–ASEAN Power Link. This project would combine the world’s largest solar farm, the…

• Will Biden Be As Bad For Oil As Critics Suggest?

  Published 11 November 2020 | viewed 13,600 times

  There has been a lot of hand-wringing in the oil industry about the consequences of a Joe Biden win, so let’s discuss those today. Here…

• Energy Markets To See Radical Shift Through 2050

  Published 09 November 2020 | viewed 4,027 times

  BloombergNEF (BNEF) published its New Energy Outlook 2020 (NEO) last week. The NEO projects the evolution of the global energy system over the next 30 years. It…

• Are Vanadium Flow Batteries The Future Of Utility-Scale Energy Storage?

  Published 05 November 2020 | viewed 14,054 times

  Earlier this year, the California Energy Commission (CEC) published a $20 million solicitation to fund research projects for the deployment of long-duration energy storage. The objective was…

• How The Oil Industry Fared Under The Last Nine U.S. Presidents

  Published 31 October 2020 | viewed 23,545 times

  With the 2020 presidential election looming — and with many claims and counterclaims about a president’s impact on the oil industry — I thought it…