NAPE, the world's largest E&P (upstream) expo, will bring together leading experts from government and industry to discuss the challenges and successes of today's vibrant oil and gas industry at its popular NAPE Business Conference, presented by IHS, Wednesday, Feb. 5, at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Part of the 21st annual NAPE Expo, the 2014 Business Conference theme is "Sustaining the Unconventional Revolution."

NAPE is the undisputed leader for showcasing prospects, building partnerships and generating oil and gas deals. The 2014 NAPE Expo is expected to draw close to 17,000 attendees with nearly 1,000 exhibitors, and has a $16.4 million annual economic impact to the city of Houston. NAPE is presented by the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL) in partnership with the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG).

North American oil and gas resource plays continue to deliver strong performance, but the industry is faced with challenges. With an abundance of natural gas and a glut of sweet, light crude that heavy-crude geared refineries cannot handle, producers seek outlets to global markets to improve netbacks, but some policymakers oppose exports because of concerns that consumer prices would increase. The unconventional revolution has delivered huge benefits in the form of affordable energy to consumers, jobs, increased tax revenue and positive GDP; however, headlines focus on fracking concerns and opponents urge moratoria on drilling. U.S. liquids production increased by more than 3 MMb/d from 2011 through 2013 -- a new record, yet some policymakers want to penalize this success by increasing taxes on the industry to subsidize renewable energy and social programs.

The NAPE Business Conference's opening session will focus on concerns about the respective roles of public policy and private enterprise. After remarks from Pete Stark, senior research director and advisor at IHS, the session will begin with keynote speakers, Ken Salazar, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior, and Luke Keller, vice president of BP America. Following the session, a panel discussion will consider the impacts of regulations in balancing the needs of public interests and the desire to increase U.S. energy supplies and energy security. Panelists include Christi Craddick, Texas Railroad Commissioner; Matthew Lepore, director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission; Don McClure, vice president of Government, Stakeholder Relations and Legal at EnCana Oil & Gas USA; and David Blackmon, managing director at FTI Consulting.

At lunch, Charles McConnell, executive director of Rice University's Energy and Environment Initiative, will present his views on "All of the Above Energy Strategy -- not a Slogan, but a Global Requirement."

In the afternoon C-suite session, senior industry executives will share their insights on how they are tuning their portfolios and operations to sustain growth. The prestigious panel includes Floyd Wilson, chairman of Halcón Resources; Tom Petrie, CEO of Petrie Partners; Steve Hinchman, president and CEO of HighMount Exploration & Production LLC; and Robert Turnham, president and COO of Goodrich Petroleum.

The NAPE Business Conference concludes with a technology session featuring George King, distinguished engineering advisor at Apache; Jim Raney, senior manager of Engineering and Technology at Anadarko; and Andrew Slaughter, vice president of Upstream Research at IHS.

The NAPE Icebreaker is open to all registrants and immediately follows the Business Conference.

To Attend NAPE

Attendee and media registration is now open for the 2014 NAPE Expo and NAPE International. Those interested in attending or participating with an exhibit hall booth can find information regarding registration at www.napeexpo.com. Members of the news media who would like to attend and cover NAPE are invited to register online at www.napeexpo.com/news-media or onsite.

About NAPE

NAPE, the world's largest E&P (upstream) expo, brings prospects and producing properties (from the U.S. and around the world), capital formation, services and technologies together in one location, creating an environment to establish strategic alliances for doing business and initiating purchases and trades. In addition to NAPE held each February, Regional NAPEs are now held annually in Pittsburgh, Denver and Houston. The internationally recognized NAPE Expo was created as the North American Prospect Expo in 1993 by AAPL and now includes IPAA, SEG and AAPG as partners. For more information, please visit www.napeexpo.com and follow NAPE on Twitter at @NAPE_EXPO.

NAPE Expo
Megan Ledford, 817-847-7700
Mledford@napeexpo.com