The guessing game over the new chief executive of the troubled Anglo-Russian oil company TNK-BP has turned into a corporate beauty contest.

After days of speculation over an appointment, BP and Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR), the consortium representing four Russian billionaire shareholders, announced that they would defer a final decision until the end of the year.

Until then, Mikhail Fridman, one of the Russians, was named interim chief executive and the company appointed two contenders for the post to senior positions. Pavel Skitovich and Maxim Barsky will join TNK-BP, Russia's third biggest oil producer, setting up a contest for promotion to the top job.

"Each has the credentials to become the new CEO," a company statement said.

BP and AAR, who each own 50 per cent of TNK-BP, were locked in a bitter battle for much of last year over control of the company. AAR represents Mr Fridman, Viktor Vekselberg, German Khan and Len Blavatnik.

BP formally nominated Mr Skitovich to lead the company on Monday, declaring that "as far as we are concerned, the search for a new CEO is over". Almost immediately, anonymous briefing in Russian newspapers made clear that AAR took a different view.

Mr Barsky was named as the consortium's choice to lead the company, suggesting that BP and AAR had failed to overcome their differences. Reports also suggested Mr Vekselberg would become interim CEO.

TNK-BP said that the board had unanimously backed the appointment of both Mr Skitovich and Mr Barsky. It said that BP had asked Mr Fridman to become temporary chief executive "as part of a succession plan to appoint a new head by the end of the year".

Mr Fridman, chairman of Alfa Group, was estimated by Forbes to be Russia's fourth richest man, worth more than $6 billion. However, his fortune is said to have shrunk from more than $20 billion before the global economic crisis.

Mr Skitovich, 43, was Soviet vice-consul in Uganda for six years. He was a senior manager at the Interros group owned by Vladimir Potanin, an oligarch close to the Kremlin, and chief executive of Polyus, Russia's largest gold producer, for five months in 2007.

Mr Barsky, 35, is a director of West Siberian Resources, a Russian oil producer. He previously worked at a subsidiary of state-run Gazprom and as a vice-president of Troika Dialog, Russia's largest private investment bank.

"Both Mr Skitovich and Mr Barsky bring valuable experience to our company, and AAR believes that they are both excellent candidates for the CEO position," said Mr Fridman.

Tim Summers, who had been acting chief executive since December and who returns to his position as chief operating officer. TNK-BP's former chief executive, Robert Dudley, was forced to flee Russia at the height of the shareholder dispute last July after AAR objected to the renewal of his work visa.

AAR had pressed for him to be sacked, claiming that he only represented BP's interests in the company. Mr Dudley, who had led TNK-BP since its formation in 2003, tried to run the company from a secret location abroad for a while but stepped down in December.

Under a peace agreement struck last September, BP retained the right to nominate a CEO but agreed that it would select a Russian-speaking figure independent of either of the two sides.

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