My friend Mickey and I attended the North American Prospect Expo at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.  We had an exhibition booth, number 2828 that we got when we arrived.  It was the last booth rented and with little space left to situate and extra one, the NAPE people placed it in the lounge area.  That’s okay because attendees were asking us how we managed to obtain such a great location.

“We had to pay double for it,” Mickey and I would quip.

It was a great booth, right next to the cocktail party held for the attendees after five every day.

Mickey and I know a drilling and completion engineer that we called the first night to go to dinner with us.  Hurricane Gustav is in the Caribbean and Scott, a Texas Aggie, was told to stay in Houston as his drilling platform was busy buttoning everything down in anticipation of the impending storm and evacuating everyone back to shore.  We ate at the Houston Club.  I had steak and enchiladas and I have to say that they were the best enchiladas I have ever eaten.  The steak wasn’t bad either.  I’m trying to get the recipe.  Any help out there?

I have two aunts, Marquerite and Dot that live in Houston and Katy.  I regretted not having the time to visit either of them but there is nothing as hectic as a NAPE prospect fair – literally 2828 companies exhibiting prospects from Iceland to Iowa, and everything in between.

The newest buzz phase this year is shale gas and I overheard and attendee saying, “I figured out right away that if you don’t have a shale deal then you don’t have sh--!”  It reminded me of Bubba in the movie Forrest Gump.  There were Barnett, Haynesville, Bossier, Woodford, Bakken and Marcellus Shale deals available.  One of any flavor you might choose.

I met many new and interesting people, including several writers, and renewed some old acquaintances.  Mickey and I remained sober, for the most part, and had a great but extremely tiring time.  I’m glad to have survived.

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