Fertilizer MLPs have stunk it up in recent months, but with yields this rich opportunity beckons. 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
The sector is facing another quarter of weak profits, but the longer-term potential keeps us invested. Read More
The alternative fuels sector’s heavily hyped promises are reaping losses for taxpayers and the investors who bought the pitch. Read More
One of the popular energy site’s longtime contributors reflects on the important lessons it taught. Read More
Master limited partnerships have spread far beyond the energy sector to ownership of cemeteries and amusement parks. Here are some of the odder ducks. Read More
Master limited partnerships have spread far beyond the energy sector to ownership of cemeteries and amusement parks. Here are some of the odder ducks. Read More
The unconventional new gasoline distribution MLP is delivering strong growth that has executives topping up their holdings. Read More
With Chinese demand still growing fast, any disruption in supplies could send prices soaring to a new record. Read More
The US government’s energy research agency is forecasting massive growth in global production and consumption. Read More
The partnership’s long-term track record has been the envy of the industry and the investors who missed the ride. Read More