Oil giant BP has appointed the chief executive of Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson as its chairman to replace Peter Sutherland.

Carl-Henric Svanberg will join the oil giant’s board in September and take over as chairman on 1 January 2010. BP chief executive Tony Hayward said that Mr Sutherland would be “a hard act to follow”.

“He has been an outstanding chairman, guiding BP through one of the most successful periods in its history”.
He joins BP at a challenging time, with almost 40% of shareholders having rejected the company’s remuneration report at this year’s annual meeting.

Analysts say he also needs to expand the company’s presence in emerging markets such as China and India. Mr Hayward said he was confident that he and Mr Svanberg would “work effectively together on the next phase of BP’s progress”