Kjetil Malkenes Hovland

OSLO--Norway's Statoil ASA said Wednesday that Oystein Loseth, a former chief executive of Swedish utility Vattenfall, has been recommended as the oil giant's new chairman.

If elected, Mr. Loseth would succeed Svein Rennemo, who's chaired the company since 2008 and has said he won't stand for reelection this year. The election takes place at Statoil's corporate assembly in June, and would take effect from July 1.

Mr. Loseth, a Norwegian, became a board member of Statoil in October, following a five-year stint as chief executive of the biggest Nordic utility, Sweden's Vattenfall. He is a former chief executive of Dutch energy company Nuon, which was acquired by Vattenfall in 2009, and has also been a manager at Norwegian utility Statkraft and at Statoil.

Statoil said Mr. Loseth "has significant top managerial experience in the energy sector, with particular expertise and experience from the European energy market."

The company's nomination committee also recommended as deputy chairman Roy Franklin, who's served on Statoil's board before, and has broad leadership experience from the oil and gas industry, including BP PLC.

Norwegian law requires listed companies to have at least 40% female board members, and the company said it was looking for another woman to replace Catherine Hughes, who resigned from the board in April.

"The nomination committee's search for a new, female board member as replacement for Hughes has commenced, but is not expected to be completed in time for the corporate assembly meeting in June. A by-election will be held as soon as a new candidate has been identified," Statoil said.

Write to Kjetil Malkenes Hovland at kjetilmalkenes.hovland@wsj.com

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