Stockholm - Norwegian Oystein Loseth has been named as new chief executive of the Swedish government-owned utility Vattenfall, the group said Monday.

The new chief executive will have to improve Vattenfall's image, tarnished by a fire and a short circuit at nuclear plants it operates in Sweden and Germany, as well as coal-fired plants in Germany and Poland that emit large amounts of greenhouse gasses.

Loseth will succeed Lars G Josefsson by the summer of 2010, and work parallel with Josefsson until then to become familiar with the operations.

"We are pleased to have found in Oystein Loseth an internal candidate who in the best of ways meets our needs," Vattenenfall Chairman Lars Westerberg said.

Westerberg said some 50 candidates, both internal and external, had been considered.

Loseth, 51, is currently chief executive of Dutch group Nuon Energy, of which Vattenfall owns 49 per cent.

The Norwegian national was named at an extraordinary board meeting Sunday.

Josefsson, 59, earlier this year announced he would retire next year at 60, but the process to find a successor was speeded up after he came under increasing pressure from Enterprise Minister Maud Olofsson, among others, over the management of the utility, which is Europe's fifth largest. (dpa)