BP HAS named Ericsson chief executive Carl-Henric Svanberg as a successor to its chairman, Peter Sutherland.

The surprise appointment that ends the oil major’s fraught search for a successor to Mr Sutherland, who had expected to stand down late last year or earlier this year.

BP initially selected miner Rio Tinto’s then chairman Paul Skinner, a former Shell executive, to fill the job. However, Mr Skinner withdrew following investor unease over Rio’s plan to sell $19.5 billion in assets and bonds to Chinese state-owned aluminium group Chinalco, BP sources said. Mr Skinner stepped down from his Rio role in March and earlier this month Rio dropped the Chinalco deal.

That reverse poisoned the BP role for some potential candidates, especially UK businessmen, some executives said, and limited the options open to the company, which had hoped to select someone with oil industry experience.

Mr Sutherland was a popular chairman, whose previous experience as an European Union Commissioner and head of the World Trade Organisation brought BP valuable international contacts.

His tenure is best remembered for a spat with former chief executive John Browne over Mr Browne’s desire to extend his role beyond BPs normal retirement age of 60 years.

Mr Svanberg will join the BP board in September and will be based in London. – (Reuters)