In February, Bruce H. Vincent retired as president and board member of Swift Energy Co. in Houston, where he had worked for 25 years. However, he remains busy. The week before we chatted, he met with Republican Reps. Steve Scalise, Joe Barton and Pete Olson on the crude oil exports question. No surprise, as Vincent has been one of the industry’s most high-profile advocates for some time as a co-founder of NAPE and OGIS, and as chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) a few years ago.

“The thing worth highlighting is that both OGIS and NAPE have been going for more than 20 years now and are so successful, nobody thinks twice about them, but when they started, there was nothing else like it and there were a lot of skeptics. But we provided a new platform for the independents and provided something beneficial to our industry.”

He’s been a frequent spokesman for the industry on CNBC, Fox News and other media outlets and on Capitol Hill. The industry recognized his efforts, naming him Chief Roughneck for 2013 by U. S. Steel Tubular Products at the IPAA annual meeting, a prestigious award created in 1955 to honor the lifetime achievements of petroleum leaders. He’s not done yet, as he now chairs IPAA’s PAC, the Wildcatter Fund, and is on IPAA’s board.

Vincent also serves on the National Petroleum Council and the Natural Gas Council, and is active in Houston civic affairs as a member of the board of Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS), BBBS Lone Star Foundation in Dallas and an advisory director and former chairman of Big Brothers Big Sisters in Houston.

Before entering the oil industry, Vincent served as a U.S. Navy Supply Officer from 1969 to 1973, earned a BA from Duke University and an MBA in finance from the University of Houston, and was an investment banker early in his career.

Bruce Vincent

Investor Bruce, you just spoke at Summer NAPE and in front of other industry groups. What is your key takeaway to audiences during this downturn?

Vincent My main message is, we’ll get through this, and it’s probably not as bad as you think it is. If you read every negative headline every day, which is based on events of that day, you could get really depressed. But I’m optimistic about the industry and look longer term. I’ve been through these cycles for 40 years now and I understand they can be very difficult, but we will get through it. I encourage people to make that happen. Quite frankly, if you get down and depressed, you won’t work as hard or as effectively because you’re distracted. You just have to focus on your business: Go make it happen.

Investor How does the industry’s legacy play into this?

Vincent Try to put it into perspective. Fifty years from now, history books will say the oil and gas shale developments were as important as Col. Drake’s first well, Spindletop and the East Texas Field. All were humongous discoveries that altered the industry, yet also caused prices to plunge. All of these booms converted to busts; then we recovered.

We can blame Saudi Arabia all we want but it was really our own success: You cannot keep pushing out crude imports and not expect something to give. It was clear we were headed this way at some point. There are a couple hundred public companies and each one is fighting for market share and so it’s been about production growth, growth, growth. It drives me crazy, because the focus should be on returns. I do think we’ll see domestic production start to roll over in the second half.

Investor As the political season heats up, how are you and IPAA involved?

Vincent I’m working with a group of folks that is trying to put together a presidential leadership energy forum in Houston, where some of the major candidates come here, Republicans and Democrats. It involves IPAA, NOIA, PESA and others. Quite a few people are lending their name and efforts to the process. Obviously, our self-interest is in getting the candidates to focus on energy policy, not just fund-raising and getting votes. If this is successful, we may do another forum closer to the election next fall.

Investor What are the goals of IPAA’s PAC?

Vincent Our Wildcatter PAC is the largest oil and gas trade association PAC there is, and we’ve raised a meaningful amount of money in each election cycle for candidates of both parties. We mainly invest in the more competitive races where we think we can make a real difference. First and foremost, we will support the people who can work on energy policy that helps the independents and are bipartisan in our approach. This PAC has allowed us to establish relationships with all the members of Congress and it’s worked out really well for the industry over time.

Investor What’s the latest you hear on exports?

Vincent That’s the No.1 topic people want to talk about now. But we in this country should not be telling any industry it cannot export the products it makes. Members of Congress understand the free market fine, but the problem comes with the politics of it: Voters think if we allow exports, gasoline prices will rise, and no one wants to be blamed for that. Gasoline prices are so low right now, you just know they will rise at some future date, whether we export oil or not. In the end, exports are a good thing for everyone.

Frankly, I don’t think we’ll see anything happen until 2017. The House may pass something this year, but the challenge is going to be in the Senate.