Oil giant BP has appointed a raft of firms to advise on top-level cross-border instructions, marking the first time the company has established a formal roster for such work.

Top UK firms including Linklaters, Herbert Smith, Norton Rose, Simmons & Simmons and McGrigors have been named on the panel, while US firms Sullivan & Cromwell, Kirkland & Ellis, Baker & McKenzie and Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw are also on the list.

All the firms are existing advisers to the FTSE 100 oil company. Other firms on BP's main advisory panel – Clyde & Co, Field Fisher Waterhouse and Wragge & Co – have not been included on the panel.

The review, originally due to be completed by the end of 2005, was postponed when associate group general counsel Robin Morris retired in September last year. In-house lawyer Paul Baddeley then took on the project.

Linklaters has traditionally held a monopoly on BP's corporate work but recent years have seen the energy giant spreading its work.