The August 21, 2007 General Assembly Meeting continued the record setting trend of the past two meetings with attendance of 130,  the largest attendance ever recorded for an August meeting. The members and guests were treated to an open bar sponsored by Westbrook Manufacturing. Members complimented the quality of the food and service provided by the HESS Club. The Bar and buffet dinner provided more than two hours of networking time among the attendees. These member to member conversations were so intense that Ron Merrick had to allow extra time for this important interaction.

Bob Tippee, Editor of The Oil & Gas Journal served as the keynote speaker. During his introduction of Bob, Don Caffee called the members’ attention to a front page article of The Houston Chronicle, August 21, 2007 edition that highlighted the increased cost of food to consumers and attributed a good portion of the increase to the ethanol implementation. This government-subsidized program has been expanding the price of corn, resulting in price increases for meat, poultry and all food products that rely on corn or corn by-products. Bob provided the members and guests with statistics and forecasts of the future of the oil and gas industry, which will be available for each company’s future planning.  Bob also discussed the increasing liability impacted by the mandated use of ethanol. The House and Senate have three different programs that they are trying to resolve and arrive at common ground for a national policy. The general consensus of opinion indicated that our congressional members should obtain more first-hand knowledge of the energy industry prior to enacting programs that may be detrimental to the long-term economy and well-being of our country.

One of the surprises of the meeting was attendance of members and guests from outside the Houston area. We recorded attendees from St. Louis, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado. This trend is continuing upward and reinforces the central position of The PVF Roundtable within the industry.  We also welcomed eleven new members into the Roundtable and expect to welcome even more at the next meeting, October 30, 2007

We would like to remind everyone of our annual morning meeting at the ASA convention in Anaheim.  The meeting is a joint effort of The PVF Roundtable and The Wholesaler magazine.  The first meeting was held last year in Chicago and was well-received and attended by 125 people. Due to the superb response, The Wholesaler has adopted sponsorship of the event at each ASA annual meeting. The event will be held at the Marriott Hotel between 9:30-1130 AM on Friday, October 26, 2007. Please provide us with your RSVP so we can provide adequate facilities. The panel discussion of the “State of the PVF Industry” will focus on the PVF’s sector’s ongoing circumstances.  Panel members include Robert Vick, Legend Valve; Mike Abeling, Consumers Pipe & Supply and Sidney Westbrook, Westbrook Manufacturing.  Robert will speak from the manufacturers’ view of the industry, Mike from the distribution side and Sidney will cover the Oil & Gas end user spectrum.

PVF Roundtable Secretary/Treasurer Don Caffee will preside, with industry icon Morris Beschloss moderating the discussions.  Mr. Beschloss will also offer his view of industry economics and major events.