Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- BP appointed Michael Townshend, the president of its Iraq operations, as a non-executive director on the board of TNK-BP, its Russian oil venture with a group of billionaires.

Townshend replaces former BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward on the board, BP said today in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net