Congrats to our Top Company 2016 winner: Noble Energy

This year’s Top Company winners and finalists represent large and small, old and new, high-tech and high-touch businesses and organizations in 11 industry categories. Like Colorado itself, these enterprises have undergone changes, endured tumultuous economic times, and overcome various hurdles to achieve distinction in their respective fields.

To be eligible for Top Company consideration, companies must be based in Colorado or have a significant presence in the state. Deloitte, a longtime program sponsor, selects up to three finalists per industry category from applications submitted online at cobizmag.com. A panel made up of ColoradoBiz magazine’s editorial board and representatives from the business community then selects the winners based on financial performance or other relevant metric, achievement in one or more operational aspect of their business, and community involvement.

Read on to learn about our 29th annual Top Company Awards winners and finalists in the "Energy" category.

ENERGY

Winner

Noble Energy

www.nobleenergyinc.com

Noble Energy is a publicly traded oil and natural gas exploration and production company with a diversified portfolio of U.S. and global assets. The company’s tagline is, “Energizing the World, Bettering People’s Lives.”

Noble Energy was founded in 1932, and over the years has developed diverse operations. It works both onshore and offshore, domestically and internationally, and in oil and natural gas to give the Houston-based company the flexibility to adapt to shifting markets. The offshore operations are in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. Onshore operations include Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale in Texas, Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, and Denver-Julesburg Basin in northeastern Colorado.

The DJ Basin is a significant source of onshore U.S. oil resources and encompasses approximately 360,000 net acres, with facilities operated and monitored from the advanced-technology operations center in Greeley. According to Noble Energy’s annual report, the DJ Basin is home to the company’s largest onshore acreage and production. Noble enhanced value through innovation and efficiency gains, drilling longer laterals in less time, optimizing completion techniques and decreasing its average well costs approximately 30 percent year over year. Annual sales volumes averaged a record 115,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Revenues for 2015 totaled more than $3.1 billion, compared to $5.1 billion in 2014. Noble attributes the negative impacts to the decrease in crude oil prices. Still, David L. Stover, chairman, president and CEO, wrote in his message to shareholders that the future is bright. “We enter 2016 bolstered by strong liquidity, a repositioned cost structure, and the ability to manage within cash flow and protect our balance sheet.”

Finalists

Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

www.anadarko.com

Anadarko is among the largest producers of oil and natural gas in Colorado, and has about 1,100 employees in the state. The company has operating areas largely located in urbanized areas of northeast Colorado. It increased oil and gas sales volumes by 32 percent relative to 2014, while doubling rig efficiency, improving safety performance and reducing drilling costs per-foot by 50 percent.

It worked with state officials and the Environmental Defense Fund to help develop rules to reduce methane leaks and launched an Ambassador/Advocate program to empower employees to answer stakeholders’ questions and address concerns. Also, Anadarko eliminated almost 11 million truck miles and associated emissions by investing in new gathering and water pipeline infrastructure.

Renewable Energy Systems Ltd.

www.res-americas.com

Renewable Energy Systems Americas develops, engineers, constructs, owns and operates renewable energy and storage projects in North America. The projects include wind farms, solar energy, transmission and energy storage. RES has constructed more than 8,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects, representing approximately 10 percent of the operating wind farms in the U.S. RES encourages employees to develop, enrich and enhance their careers by attending workshops, training courses and conferences. Employees may also volunteer four hours of company-sponsored time each month for causes that are important to them. When RES proposes a project, it holds town hall meetings to foster open discussion and educate the community about renewable energy technologies and the project.