NEW YORK, December 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Three of Europe's leading energy companies took top honors for technology innovation, strategic investments, and engineering prowess in the 2009 Platts Global Energy Awards announced last night at a gala ceremony and dinner in New York.

Spain's international oil and gas giant Repsol won the Commercial Technology of the Year award for the ground-breaking seismic technology of its Kaleidoscope Project which employs advanced computerized techniques to efficiently and cost-effectively reveal previously invisible oil and gas deposits. The technology allows faster processing of seismic data, cutting down on exploration time and costs, and has enabled Repsol to make 13 new discoveries just this year.

Italy's Enel SpA was the hands-down winner of the Deal of the Year Award for the successful completion of its acquisition of Endesa, Spain's largest power company. The panel of judges attributed the closing of this complex and contentious deal to the negotiating skills, persuasive power and resolve of Enel's CEO Fulvio Conti. As a result of the acquisition, Enel dramatically expanded its global presence and now has operations in 23 countries serving 60.5 million power and gas customers.

Shell's pioneering Perdido project in the Gulf of Mexico won the ENR Energy Construction Project of the Year, an award given by McGraw-Hill Construction, Platts' sister company and the publisher of Engineering News-Record. The Perdido project is the world's deepest direct vertical-access spar. Moored at a water depth of some 2,380 meters, it will act as a hub for the development of three fields, gathering, processing, and exporting oil and gas production from within a 48-kilometer radius.

Platts Global Energy Awards honor outstanding achievement in the energy industry, recognizing corporate and individual accomplishments, innovation and entrepreneurship. The industry's most prestigious annual awards program, now in its 11th year, is hosted by Platts, the world's leading energy and metals information provider, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

The winners in a total of 18 award categories were chosen by an independent international panel of judges from a record number of nominations from 22 countries. The winning companies came from India, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, and the United States.

For complete awards results, including the judges' rationale, please go to Platts Global Energy Awards:

- Website -- http://geaweb.platts.com/GEAWeb/Homepage.do - Media kit -- http://platts.com/MediaKits.aspx?xmlFile=mediaGEA.xml

About Platts: Platts, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies , is a leading global provider of energy and commodities information. With a century of business experience, Platts serves customers across more than 150 countries. An independent provider, Platts serves the oil, natural gas, electricity, emissions, nuclear power, coal, petrochemical, shipping, and metals markets from 17 offices worldwide. Platts' real-time news, pricing, analytical services and conferences help markets operate with transparency and efficiency. Traders, risk managers, analysts, and industry leaders depend upon Platts to help them make better trading and investment decisions. Additional information is available at http://www.platts.com.

SOURCE: Platts

CONTACT: Kathleen Tanzy, +1-212-904-2860, kathleen_tanzy@platts.com