NEW YORK, Dec. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- New technology, green energy initiatives and corporate stewardship were honored at the 15(th) annual Platts Global Energy Awards, held December 12 in New York City.

The Awards, often described as the "Oscars" of energy, included more than a dozen performance categories and 20 individual awards, which were presented to executives and companies from all spectrums of the energy arena.

Industry Leadership Awards

Winning Platts' top honors for leadership required implementing bold strategies, demonstrating operational safety, excellence and innovation, achieving positive financial results and making an industry-wide impact in the past year. There were four awards in this category:

    --  Industry Leadership - Electricity Generation went to government-owned
        Korea Southern Power Corporation Limited (KOSPO) of South Korea. In its
        selection of KOSPO, the Platts independent judges panel paid particular
        attention to the utility's first-of-type combustion technology, which
        improves the efficient combustion of lower grade coals and does so with
        scalable greenhouse gas capture.
    --  Industry Leadership - Exploration & Production was awarded to
        Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, one of the world's largest
        independent oil and natural gas entities. Judges praised Anadarko for
        besting the industry average in deep-water exploration and appraisal
        averages and for its track record of economy-altering, deep-water
        drilling in such places as Mozambique, where deep-water finds have
        positioned the nation to become a key exporter of liquefied natural gas.
    --  Industry Leadership - Grid Optimization went to Bonneville Power
        Administration (BPA), an Oregon-based federal nonprofit marketer of
        wholesale electrical power.  Judges lauded BPA's "synchrophasor"
        program, which allows grid operators to optimize flow performance by
        instantly evaluating and responding to changes in power demand and
        supply, noting that it clearly raises the bar for best practices in the
        power sector.
    --  Industry Leadership - Midstream was snared by Switzerland's Puma Energy,
        the world's largest operator of bulk storage terminals.  In naming the
        integrated midstream and downstream oil company as winner, judges lauded
        its success and boldness in "extreme" environments - operating in
        locations that are often remote, demanding, and climatically
        challenging.

Judges identified
Virginia-based Nodal Exchange, the first commodities exchange offering locational [nodal] futures contracts in the North American power markets, as the company to watch, naming it this year's Rising Star - Company. Judges lauded Nodal Exchange for turning challenges into opportunities, demonstrated by its embrace of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act financial services legislation to drive growth in market share.

Stewardship Awards

Dominating the stewardship category for Green Energy Supplier was Arizona-based First Solar, a vertically integrated renewable energy company. Judges said nimbleness in a cost-competitive environment and the ability to achieve success without subsidies helped First Solar eclipse its finalist peers.

Winning Efficiency Initiative - Commercial End-User was New York-headquartered IBM, a globally integrated technology and consulting company. Judges pointed to IBM's global campaign of energy savings, calling it "world class."

It was an initiative - "Efficiency Made Easy (EME)" - that made Maryland-based Constellation, an Exelon Company, the judges' choice for Efficiency Initiative - Energy Supplier of 2013. Through the EME program, Constellation customers collectively reduced CO2 emissions by more than 166 million pounds.

Rounding out the evening's stewardship recognition was the largest electric distribution utility in the Philippines, Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), which walked away with the 2013 Corporate Social Responsibility honors. Judges praised MERALCO's aim of aligning its business goals with its social development objectives: helping to improve the quality of life for its customers, especially those who are marginalized, both for their benefit and the nation's. Most recently, MERALCO has been active in post-typhoon relief efforts, providing generators and aid to affected communities.

Projects, Technology, Initiatives Awards

The Platts Global Energy Awards also celebrated a number of exemplary projects and technology innovations. Receiving Premier Project honors were Gail (India) Limited, India's largest gas transmission and marketing company, and Canada's Hatch Ltd. & Hatch Mott MacDonald, a full-service consulting engineering firm. Read more.

Three companies earned Leading Technology recognition. They were the U.K.'s Meta Downhole Ltd., a downhole isolation company specializing in oil and gas well integrity, and two Illinois-based companies: Caterpillar Inc., a global leading manufacturer of engines and construction and mining equipment, and LanzaTech, a technology provider in the industrial bio-commodities arena. Read more.

"We congratulate each of the Platts Global Energy Awards winners for their leadership and for thinking outside the box for the betterment of the industry and others," said Larry Neal, president of Platts, a leading global energy and commodities information provider and host of the Awards.

The black-tie Awards gala, emceed by CNBC television anchor Amanda Drury, was held at the Waldorf Astoria in midtown Manhattan and attended by nearly 500 energy industry executives from 19 countries. Winning the most coveted of the program's awards was Continental Resources of Oklahoma, which took home Energy Company of the Year and whose chief executive officer Harold Hamm was named CEO of the Year.

Full information on the winners and judges' rationale can be found in the December Platts Insight Magazine on the Platts Global Energy Awards website or via the Platts Global Energy Awards media kit.

The Platts Global Energy Awards and reception were sponsored by Mercer and GlobalView, respectively.

Preceding the gala was a keynote address by U.S. Energy Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz at the seventh annual Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum.

Next year's Platts Global Energy Awards and events will be held December 11, 2014, in New York City.

About Platts: Founded in 1909, Platts is a leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals, metals and agriculture information and a premier source of benchmark prices for the physical and futures markets. Platts' news, pricing, analytics, commentary and conferences help customers make better-informed trading and business decisions and help the markets operate with greater transparency and efficiency. A division of McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE: MHFI), Platts is headquartered in New York with approximately 900 employees in more than 15 offices worldwide. Customers in more than 150 countries benefit from Platts' coverage of the biofuels, carbon emissions, coal, electricity, oil, natural gas, metals, nuclear power, petrochemical, shipping and sugar markets. Additional information is available at http://www.platts.com.

SOURCE Platts

SOURCE: Platts