Oil and Gas Financial Journal Publisher Mark Peters addresses the crowd at the fall PVF Roundtable in Houston. Photo by Mike Miazga/Supply House Times.

The final PVF Roundtable of 2013 broke yet another attendance record.

The gathering of industrial PVF individuals at the JW Marriott in Houston attracted an all-time- high 460 registrants, continuing a string of strong attendance numbers. All 2013 meetings have featured registration numbers above 400.

“A lot of it (the strong attendance numbers) has to do with the new young talent coming into the industry,” PVF Roundtable President Danny Westbrook (Westbrook Mfg.) told Supply House Times in a video interview available at www.supplyht.com. “I’m hoping it has to do with the scholarship funds we are creating for our industry and our colleges. It’s also the quality of speakers. The pertinent information they are bringing to us has a lot to do with it.”

After the standard and extremely popular nearly two-hour networking session (followed by dinner), keynote speaker Mark Peters (publisher of the Oil & Gas Financial Journal) painted a bright future for the U.S. oil and gas industry.

Peters said optimism stems from recent technological advances. “It’s basically the improved technology in fracking oil and gas in tight formations which have been wasted areas for this industry forever until five to seven years ago when it was proven how to extract the oil and gas,” he said in a video interview also available at www.supplyht.com.

“We’ve lowered the price of the extraction. We have great growth potential, which is going to lead to expansion throughout the downstream areas from the oil and gas production capacity. We’ll see more petrochemical facilities added, more refining capacity added in certain processing units and more pipeline capacity.”

Peters added distributors of industrial pipe, valves and fittings are currently sitting in a good position.

“The nice thing about the oil and gas industry for these folks is we still have to use metal. We can’t get by with PVC,” he said. “Everything they are dealing with we are going to use for safety considerations. All these industries are some of the heaviest users of pipe, valves and fittings. It will be a very good opportunity over the next four to 10 years.”

Peters noted the industry future looks good, but cautioned there still could be some potential hiccups.

“The downfall will come about if the general economy stops growing,” he said. “Government regulation always is a concern in this industry. There is increased taxation and putting areas off limits to explore. All those are usually the downfall when you get into the exploration of oil and gas.”

PVF Roundtable returns Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014 at the JW Marriott. Chicago Tube & Iron President and CEO Dr. Don McNeeley returns as the keynote speaker.

Westbrook revealed the recipient of the new PVF Roundtable PVF Leadership Award will be honored at the February meeting. He added the nomination and selection process for the award will start this month.

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