Anil Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Energy Limited, has been adjudged the 'CEO of the Year' at the prestigious Platts Global Energy Awards for 2004.

The award was conferred on Friday at the Plaza Hotel in New York at a ceremony attended by over 400 corporate leaders in the international energy sector.

It is the first time ever that an Indian CEO has won this distinguished honour.

Ambani received the award 'in recognition of his courage, dedication, ethics, and the ability to bring about a real change for the better in the company, in the industry as a whole, and in the lives of the employees,' said a Reliance Energy media release.

Commenting on the award, Ambani described it as 'a tribute to the vision of my father Dhirubhai Ambani and the collective commitment and dedication of the 25,000-strong family that works at Reliance Energy.'

Ambani's name was chosen from among a set of 10 short-listed finalists, including Jurgen Dormann of ABB Ltd, Bill Greehey of Valero Energy Corporation, Harold M Korell of Southwestern Energy Company and M S Ramachandran of Indian Oil Corporation.

The Platts CEO of the Year award is a keenly contested international business awards and attracts up to 200 nominations every year from across the world. In the recent past, the award has been given to, among others, Sir John Browne of BP Amoco plc.

Platts, owned by McGraw Hill, is the world's largest energy information provider. It has, over the last 75 years, acquired an unparalleled reputation for quality, accuracy and speed in the fields of electricity, natural gas, oil and petrochemicals.

It provides news, data analysis and research to leading international networks such as Reuters, Bloomberg and Standard & Poor.