Vertex Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTNR), an environmental services company that recycles industrial waste streams and off-specification commercial chemical products, announced that Benjamin Cowart, Chairman and CEO, will participate in the first WasteExpo/Wunderlich Securities Investor Summit on Monday, May 20, 2013 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. Mr. Cowart will be part of the Used Oil Panel that starts at 10:00 AM.

WasteExpo 2013, which runs from May 20 through May 23, is North America's largest solid waste and recycling industry event, serving both the private and public sectors, with over 575 exhibiting companies and more than 11,000 total participants. WasteExpo and Wunderlich Securities have partnered to sponsor this first-ever "Waste Industry Investor Summit" which will take place on the first day of WasteExpo. The event will bring together senior management of major solid, industrial and energy waste companies, innovators of new technologies and institutional investors in a discussion forum focused on this $85 billion revenue industry. The Agenda includes public and private companies along with panels on sustainability, used oil and energy waste.

ABOUT WUNDERLICH SECURITIES

Established in 1996, Wunderlich Securities Member FINRA, SIPC is a full-service brokerage firm based in Memphis, Tenn. Wunderlich Securities is a full service broker dealer catering to individual and institutional client with wealth management, equity and fixed income capital market services. The firm operates from 26 offices across 15 states and has over 450 associated professionals.

ABOUT VERTEX ENERGY, INC.

Vertex Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTNR), is a leading environmental services company that recycles industrial waste streams and off-specification commercial chemical products. Its primary focus is recycling used motor oil and other petroleum by-product streams. Vertex Energy purchases these streams from an established network of local and regional collectors and generators. The company also manages the transport, storage and delivery of the aggregated feedstock and product streams to end users, and manages the re-refining of a portion of its aggregated petroleum streams in order to sell them as higher-value end products. Vertex Energy sells its aggregated petroleum streams as feedstock to other re-refineries and fuel blenders or as replacement fuel for use in industrial burners. The re-refining of used motor oil that Vertex Energy manages takes place at a facility operated by a related party that uses a proprietary Thermal Chemical Extraction Process ("TCEP") technology. Based in Houston, Texas, Vertex Energy also has offices in Georgia and California. More information on the company can be found at www.vertexenergy.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management's view of Vertex Energy's future expectations, plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act, and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Any statements made in this news release other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the results of Vertex Energy, its divisions and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or implied in such statements. These risk factors and others are included from time to time in documents Vertex Energy files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on Vertex Energy's future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. Vertex Energy cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, Vertex Energy undertakes no obligation to updates these statements after the date of this release, except as required by law, and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by Vertex Energy.


Contacts

Porter, LeVay & Rose, Inc.
Marlon Nurse, 212-564-4700
SVP – Investor Relations
or
Vertex Energy, Inc.
Matthew Lieb, 310-230-5450
Chief Operating Officer