BP’s search for a new chairman ended on Thursday with the appointment of Carl-Henric Svanberg, chief executive of Ericsson, the telecoms equipment maker.

The choice of a Swedish engineer to lead Britain’s biggest company brings to a close a year-long struggle to find a replacement for Peter Sutherland, the current chairman. The quest for a face that might fit at BP’s top table has ranged far and wide, involving numerous headhunters and abortive appointments.

Mr Svanberg, 57, who will take up the job on January 1, is an outsider to the oil industry and relatively unknown in the City of London investment fraternity. His appointment drew sceptical comment from some analysts who compared his stature to the present BP chairman and they questioned Mr Svanberg’s ability to act as global ambassador for one of the world’s top energy companies.

Mr Sutherland’s leadership was marked latterly by a boardroom power struggle with Lord Browne of Madingley, the former chief executive, who refused to retire but finally quit after disclosures concerning his private life. Mr Sutherland has been forced to delay his planned retirement as the search for his replacement was set back by false starts and the recession.

BP initially set its sights on Paul Skinner, a former Shell managing director and recent chairman of Rio Tinto. However, criticism over his support for Rio’s failed alliance with Chinalco, the Chinese metals group, persuaded BP to continue its search. Other candidates included Paul Anderson, former chairman of BHP Billiton, and Wulf Bernotat, chief executive of E.ON.

In the end, BP settled on a chairman with no direct experience of the energy industry. Mr Svanberg’s challenges include the completion of a round of job cuts and internal restructuring, a project initiated two years ago by Tony Hayward, the chief executive, and aimed at streamlining what had become a bureaucratic enterprise.

Mr Svanberg has direct experience in corporate surgery, having taken part in a brutal restructuring at Ericsson where the workforce was reduced by half. He will also have to deal with the continuing row with the company’s Russian partners over ownership of the TNK-BP joint venture.

Finally, he may need to renew the BP board, where many of the members owe their positions to relationships with a previous regime.

Mr Hayward paid tribute to the outgoing chairman, saying: “Peter Sutherland has been an outstanding chairman, guiding the company through one of the most successful periods in its history. He will be a hard act to follow but I am sure Carl-Henric will be a worthy successor.”

At BP, Mr Svanberg, who was paid a total of SKr20.4 million (£1.6 million) by Ericsson last year, is likely to face pressure from investors to maintain the group’s dividend at a time of relatively weak oil and gas prices, while continuing to invest in its costly long-term exploration and production programme.

He will also help to settle the debate over the future of BP’s alternative energy business, which has been uncertain since the departure of Lord Browne. He will remain a nonexecutive director of Ericsson.

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