Asia Pacific Scales New Heights in 2014 Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings®

SINGAPORE, Oct. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia Pacific (APAC) showed its strength again as both an energy demand center and a leader in energy company growth in the Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings®, an annual financial performance roster, unveiled in Singapore on Tuesday. APAC companies moved up in both numbers and position when Platts, a leading global energy and commodities information provider, announced its 13^th annual rankings based on assets, revenues, three-year compound growth rate (CGR) and return on invested capital (ROIC) for the latest fiscal year (2013).

While energy companies of the Americas snared 103 of the Top 250 slots, their numbers were down from the 149 peak in 2003. But APAC showed a "personal best" this year with 82, up eight from a year ago, surpassing a best for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) of 80 spots back in 2008. It was again a story of the world's integrated oil and gas companies (IOG), including U.S.-based Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) as headliner in the Top 250 rankings for the 10th year running. In the top 25 rungs alone, IOGs held 17 positions, while oil and gas refining and marketing (R&M) companies scored four, oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) companies clinched three, and a coal and consumable fuels (C&CF) entity claimed one.

Emblematic of Asia's rapid growth was ninth-ranked China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec). While second to PetroChina Company Limited in the world's top-ranked APAC energy companies, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) was the region's leading energy company by revenue and made the top 10 in the overall Top 250 for the second consecutive year. It was growth and performance that helped China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) Chairman Mr. Fu Chengyu win the 2014 Platts Top 250 Asia CEO of the Year. He was chosen from seven other finalists by an independent panel of judges.

APAC also laid claim to 21 of the world's Top 50 Fasting Growing companies, well eclipsing EMEA's representation of six, and only two behind the 23 from the Americas – where the U.S., with its fracking revolution, looks set to topple Saudi Arabia as the world's leading oil producer. America's top 10 fastest- growing firms averaged 46.8% three-year CGR, while in Asia the average was 27.3%. India made an impressive showing, claiming seven places among the fastest growers – six more than in the previous year's ranking – with an average three-year CGR of 21.3%.

Top 10 of 2014 Platts Top 250 Rankings

While ExxonMobil – with its combined performance of assets, revenues, three-year CGR and ROIC – continued to hold its oil major rivals at bay in the Top 250's lead 10 ranks, back this year in the second place was U.K.-based BP p.l.c. In the third place was U.S.-based Chevron Corporation. France's Total S.A. maintained a posting among the lead 10 at the eighth position, a slip of two places from the prior year. But Western dominance has ebbed. Chinese and Russian national oil companies (NOCs) captured four of the lead 10, up four-fold from the inaugural rankings in 2002. Russia's Gazprom retained its fourth spot among the world's energy companies but outperformed all others in assets and profits. With the exit of LUKOIL and Statoil ASA from the leaderboard, China's two biggest state integrated oil giants PetroChina and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) were ranked seventh and ninth, respectively.

Storage and transportation picks up
With the U.S. shale boom, the global relative importance of the midstream sector continued to grow. More than 80% of the world's biggest transport companies are based in Canada and the U.S., where the shale boom is benefiting the midstream sector. Midstream operators have seen markets swell and earnings climb as the sector scrambles to move oil and products in new directions around North America. U.S. midstream players scored three positions in the list of 10 fastest-growing energy companies in the Americas. Two years ago there were none.

Asia's hunger for power
The Rankings also reflected the recent uptrend of per capita power consumption in Asia. For example, per capita power consumption in India was 560 kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2002, but finished the latest fiscal year at 917 kWh, while installed capacity moved from 105 gigawatt (GW) to 223 GW over 2002-2013. Chinese electricity consumption was up an annual 7.5% in fiscal 2013. The 2014 Rankings by sector showed that Asian companies held nine of the top 10 places among the world's independent power producers (IPP).

China continued to dominate the production of coal – the main fuel for power production in China and India. Of record global production of 7.8 billion metric tons (mt) in 2012, China produced 3.55 billion mt, well over three times more than the world's second-largest producer, the U.S., and nearly six times as much as third-placed India. Chinese coal producers took seven of the top 10 places in the Top 250's coal and consumable fuels (C&CF) company list, with China Shenhua Energy Company the highest of all non-oil companies in the overall Top 250 list, in 15th place, down one place from last year. In addition, Coal India Limited emerged as the company with the highest ROIC of 35%, the highest of any company in the overall 250.

The Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings were announced at the ninth annual Platts Top 250 Asia Awards Dinner, emceed this year by Channel NewsAsia anchor and reporter Annalisa Burgos. The event was held in partnership with Singapore International Energy Week. Prior to the announcement of the 2014 Rankings, Mr. Masakazu Toyoda, chairman and CEO of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ), offered the keynote address on the future of Asia Pacific's energy industry. Calling the 21^st century the "century of Asia" and the "era of Asia's development," Mr. Toyoda talked about the key challenges Asian energy companies must overcome to meet energy needs with a view to energy security, economic efficiency, environment and safety. The dinner was attended by well over 300 energy industry executives.

For full details of the 2014 Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings® and the associated lists by region, industry sector, biggest movers, fastest growers and more, view the media kit or visit http://top250.platts.com/Rankings. Access an in-depth analysis of this year's Rankings by Robert Perkins, Platts EMEA oil news senior writer, and Henry Edwardes-Evans, Platts Power in Europe associate editorial director, at this link: http://top250.platts.com/Highlights.

Financial data for the Platts Top 250 Global Energy Companies Rankings® was provided by S&P Capital IQ, which, like Platts, is a division of McGraw Hill Financial. To be ranked, companies must have assets greater than U.S. $5 billion. The Rankings were based on assets, revenues, profits and return on invested capital for the prior fiscal year.

To access details of the sponsors of the Platts Top 250 Asia Awards dinner, visit this link: http://top250.platts.com/AboutOurSponsors. Sponsors played no role in the determination of rankings or the selection of the Platts Top 250 Asia CEO of the Year.

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. 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. A division of McGraw Hill Financial (NYSE: MHFI), Platts is based in London with more than 1000 employees in more than 15 offices worldwide. Additional information is available at www.platts.com.

About McGraw Hill Financial: McGraw Hill Financial, a financial intelligence company, is a leader in credit ratings, benchmarks and analytics for the global capital and commodity markets. Iconic brands include: Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Dow Jones Indices, Platts, CRISIL, J.D. Power and McGraw Hill Construction. The Company has approximately 18,000 employees in 30 countries. Additional information is available at www.mhfi.com.

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