Here, we honor our winners for their 2011 activities. It was a year in which crude oil prices soared and U.S. production rose dramatically, while natural gas prices tanked on the back of a gas surplus. The Mississippi Lime and new Permian Basin plays came to the fore, and in Ohio, the Utica shale joined other unconventional plays in creating excitement among E&P companies and investors.

Talk grew of exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG), and even the petrochemical and manufacturing industries took notice of America's new surplus of energy.

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