Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, will replace the head of its Alaskan unit after inadequate maintenance led to leaky pipelines, the shutdown of the largest U.S. oil field and an investor lawsuit.

Doug Suttles, president of BP's operations on the Russian island of Sakhalin, will become president of BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. on Jan. 1, taking over from Steve Marshall, spokesman Daren Beaudo said in a telephone interview today.

BP Chief Executive Officer John Browne, seeking to restore the company's reputation, has already replaced the head of the company's U.S. operations and the manager of a Texas refinery where 15 people were killed in an explosion last year. Employees accused of participating in alleged attempts to manipulate U.S. propane and oil trading have also left.

``There were question marks about the way BP handled the problem, and the management has made mistakes,'' Dariusz Kowalczyk, the chief investment strategist at CFC Seymour Ltd., said in Hong Kong. ``This could appease the U.S. regulators. Getting rid of some of the executives makes sense.''

Pipelines that were shut at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay in August were neglected for years and BP may have suppressed worker complaints, U.S. lawmakers said in September.

Steve Marshall ``will develop and lead the operations academy,'' a training facility that focuses on issues including safety, Beaudo said. ``Tony Hayward, our president for exploration and production, had asked Steve to take on the new job.''

Executive Moves

Marshall was the second-longest serving president of BP's Alaska unit, having held for the post for about five years, Beaudo said. Marshall has been at BP for 29 years.

Among BP's recent management changes, Robert Malone was appointed in June as president of BP America Inc., replacing Ross Pillari, who was retiring. Colin Maclean, a former manager of BP refineries in Scotland, Australia and Indiana, was chosen to take over the Texas City, Texas, refinery from manager Don Parus in May 2005, two months after the deadly explosion. On Aug. 25, BP said Maclean would be replaced early next year by Keith Casey, an executive from a rival oil company, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, who had been general manager at Shell's Norco refinery in Louisiana.

The pipeline leaks in Alaska and partial shutdown of the field hurt the U.S. economy by boosting oil prices, Representative Joe Barton, the Republican chairman of the House Energy Committee, said Sept. 7 as BP officials appeared at a congressional hearing held by the investigations subcommittee of the energy panel.

`Staggering'

Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said BP's failures are ``staggering'' and called for tighter pipeline rules.

BP is also being investigated for alleged manipulation of the propane and oil markets and faces lawsuits over the fatal 2005 refinery blast in Texas.

The company's shares rose 5.5 pence, or 0.9 percent, to 588.5 pence in London at 11:45 a.m.

BP's global management team knew of safety concerns at the company's Texas City, Texas, oil refinery before a deadly explosion last year, U.S. safety investigators said Oct. 30.

Flammable vapors were discharged in eight instances between 1994 and 2004 from the same ``blow-down drum,'' or tank, that caused the March 2005 explosion, the Chemical Safety Board said in its report this week. BP didn't follow up on a 1994 internal action item to analyze the equipment, which dated from the 1950s, the regulator said.

Industrial Accidents

The blast was the worst U.S. industrial accident in more than a decade, killing 15 and injuring 180. BP has set aside $1.6 billion to compensate victims.

BP had ``stumbled'' in the past year and failed to meet its environmental and safety goals, BP America's Malone told the congressional hearing in September. BP will create a board of three corrosion experts to recommend better pipeline practices, he said at the time.

Unite Here National Retirement Fund, a pension plan for union members in the textile and hospitality industries, and investor Jeffrey Pickett filed a lawsuit against BP executives on Oct. 2 in an Alaska state court. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges the executives at BP breached their fiduciary duties.

BP said on Oct. 23 production at the Prudhoe Bay oil field is back to ``normal'' levels. Output has been restored to about 400,000 barrels of oil a day, BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said.

BP is the oilfield's operator and has a 26 percent stake. Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips each have stakes of about 36 percent in Prudhoe Bay.

One of BP's feeder pipelines at the Prudhoe Bay field had worse corrosion than initially reported, the Anchorage Daily News reported yesterday, citing test results that led to the field's partial shutdown.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nesa Subrahmaniyan in Singapore at nesas@bloomberg.net Stephen Voss in London at sev@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 1, 2006 07:05 EST