Robert E West

Robert West is the Managing Director of the Ocean Energy Institute (OEI), a research institute founded in 2007 by Matthew Simmons, energy investment banker and Peak Oil advocate. OEI’s mission is to find new solutions to global oil dependency in the world’s largest renewable energy resource — its oceans.

Ocean Energy Institute will advance the development of renewable energy from the oceans through research analysis, advocacy, and public education and outreach. OEI is initiating or supporting a number of research programs in deepwater offshore wind energy design, ammonia production, ammonia as a storage medium and as a clean fuel, energy economics, smart grid, and environmental studies.

Prior to joining OEI in 2009, Robert’s career has been focused on program and project management. After starting as a planning engineer on Anheuser-Busch breweries, he spent almost eight years in the Middle East managing and constructing onshore and offshore oil facilities and infrastructure projects for Fluor and Saudi Aramco. Robert worked in the high-tech field of hardware and software development for DEC, managing and consulting on a number of major programs, and applying risk management techniques to project controls. As a program manager in the medical device field, he has directed the research, development, validation, regulatory approval, and global launch of a number of complex Class II medical devices for J&J and Baxter, and has provided medical device consulting to global clients.

Robert has an engineering degree from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio, and is a Project Management Professional (PMP®).