Richard John Hubbard has been appointed an executive vice president of Statoil with responsibility for its international exploration and production business.
Due to join the group on 1 November, Mr Hubbard (49) is currently in charge of BP Amoco's operations in Brazil.
He is a British citizen, educated as geologist at the University of Stanford in California, and has been with BP Exploration since 1974.
Earlier posts included serving as chief geologist for the company's operations in Alaska and on the UK continental shelf.
Mr Hubbard played a key role in the early 1990s in reorganising BP's international exploration activities.
The group pulled out of a number of areas, and framed a new global strategy. Part of this was an alliance with Statoil which included exploration in Azerbaijan, Angola and Vietnam.
"I'm very pleased to be joining Statoil, and look forward to helping to build a strong international business," Mr Hubbard comments.
He is replacing Rolf Magne Larsen, who will be taking up a newly-created position on 1 September as the regional manager for Statoil's operations in the Caspian.