While 2013 was considered a success in terms of business development for The Woodlands, Gil Staley, CEO of The Woodlands Area Economic Development Partnership, said 2014 could be even better.

"We wrapped up 2013 as one of the most productive years in our history for business recruitment activity that we've seen in a number of years," Staley said. "Our business expansion was very active, and we finished this year with the announcement of ExxonMobil. We feel 2014 will be equally as active."

In December, ExxonMobil announced it would move into 400,000 square feet of office space in two buildings in the Hughes Landing development on the northeast shore of Lake Woodlands. The new ExxonMobil office could bring up to 1,400 jobs to The Woodlands.

Formal information requests by companies to the EDP increased from 12 in 2012 to 24 in 2013, and Staley said that trend would likely continue this year.

"We're already working on a number of proposals that hopefully come to fruition," he said.

Those proposals include potential relocations to The Woodlands of two Fortune 500 companies.

"We may or may not be successful in those efforts," Staley said.

The EDP will also take part in what Staley called mission projects, when he and EDP representatives visit locations such as New York and California to entice business to relocate to The Woodlands.

"That's going to be an active time for us to go out in partnership with the Greater Houston Partnership for the Opportunity Houston project that we are actively supporting," he said.

Meanwhile, the trend of energy and oil and gas companies looking to be near the ExxonMobil campus likely will continue, Staley said.

"We haven't even seen the full effects yet of the ExxonMobil relocation projects to the south," he said. "Once they get going with that operation, we'll see even more opportunities."

In addition to new business recruitment, Staley said, the EDP will also continue efforts to retain businesses.