Houston Business Journal Energy Reporter Jordan Blum Talks Topics, Timing

Over the 24 years Ward has been headquartered in Houston, the energy capital of the world, our oil and gas public relations team has built many relationships with industry experts and the leading publishers who report on them. And while those relationships make the job easier, what’s most important in coordinating interviews and coverage is to understand their needs and story angles of interest. Ward sat down with Houston Business Journal energy reporter Jordan Blum to hear his take on current energy industry issues and trends.

Q. What current issues in the energy market are not getting as much coverage as they should?  

A. I cover everything from a Houston perspective, so I can only focus so much on global energy issues. But the reality is everything is intimately interconnected…and everything from the internal politics of OPEC to Japan’s future use of nuclear power will largely impact Houston eventually.

Q. From your perspective, what energy topic is overblown and past its prime?  Why?

A. The debate over the U.S.’s natural resource export policies is huge, but I believe the topic of LNG exporting gets overblown because capital costs and supply and demand will only lead to so many projects being constructed in Texas and along the Gulf Coast. It’s important, but it maybe gets more coverage than it warrants.

Q. What energy trends do you see coming to the forefront in 2015?

A. In that same vein, it will be interesting to see how much the crude oil exporting debate picks up. If it does, it could have a huge impact. However, there’s a strong chance that the issue never heats up all that much given the ongoing trend of congressional gridlock politics.

Q. Social media is changing the way stories are identified and covered. How do you use it to track energy market developments and opportunities?

A. Social media, obviously, adds to the immediacy of everything, for better or worse. Print journalists are rarely able any longer to sit on big stories or scoops and save them for print. It is now critical to get things online as quickly as possible and to subsequently push things on social media like Twitter and newer channels like Oilpro. I use Twitter and other social media resources to track competitors, businesses, politicians, potential sources and much more. Sometimes, it seems like a necessary evil, but there’s no arguing that it is necessary. If you need help building and fostering relationships with leading business and trade media covering the upstream, midstream and downstream energy sectors, contact Ward’s award-winning oil and gas public relations team today.