From The Houston Chronicle
If you're trying to hunt down an energy reporter in Houston next week your best bet will be IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates' 29th annual energy forum next week, aka CERAWeek.
The event, now expanded to five days of panel discussions and keynote speeches, has been referred to as 'the Super Bowl of energy conferences' because of its importance (although maybe we should start calling the Offshore Technology Conference the Superbowl it features hulking pieces of equipment and is held in Reliant Stadium? Maybe CERAWeek is really more like the NCAA Tournament?). It will be at the George R. Brown Convention Center downtown this year, having left its longtime haunt at the Westin Galleria.
The agenda is lengthy (and changes frequently), admission is expensive (lowest 2-day attendance rate is $5,500) but the panels and speeches are widely followed in the industry. A good deal of news comes out of the sessions and sometimes companies choose CERAWeek to break news.
As in years past, The Houston Chronicle will be at CERAWeek in force, writing both for print and the blog throughout the day. Watch for a set-up piece on this year's show from Brett Clanton in the paper this weekend.
The busiest day tends to be Tuesday, Oil Day, where the keynotes will be Khalid Al-Falih, President and Chief Executive Officer, Saudi Aramco; Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy; James Mulva, Chairman, President and CEO, ConocoPhillips; and Paolo Scaroni, Chief Executive Officer, Eni.
Monday is a half-day of discussions on macro energy issues, Wednesday is Natural Gas Day and Thursday and Friday are both dedicated to electric power.
Other big names at the event this year include Lawrence Summers, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council; Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman, General Director of Gazprom; Andrew Liveris, Chairman, President and CEO of Dow Chemical; Ken Rogoff, professor of public policy from Harvard University; David Gergen, Harvard University professor, CNN political analyst and former presidential adviser; and the anchor for the whole event, Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Chairman of IHS-CERA.
In addition to blogging continuously from the event every day next week we'll also be posting items to Twitter using the hashtag #CERAWeek.