BP has launched a review of its UK legal panel with advisers currently re-tendering for a position on the oil giant's roster.

The current line-up, which came into effect in 2011, saw first time appointments for Norton Rose Fulbright and Olswang, both of which joined Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), CMS Cameron McKenna, Field Fisher Waterhouse and Scottish firm McGrigors.

The existing panel, which is set to end in May, also includes spots for a number for niche areas.

In the UK, the majority of corporate work is carried out by longstanding adviser Linklaters, although fellow panel firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has picked up an increasing number of mandates in recent years.

Key relationship partners for the oil major in the City include Freshfields' corporate partner Mark Rawlinson, Linklaters global head of corporate Jeremy Parr, and James Palmer at HSF, who took over as relationship partner after his predecessor Paul Griffin left for Allen & Overy in 2010.

Last year, BP turned to Linklaters after the European Commission announced it was investigating the company over allegations of oil and biofuel price fixing.

In 2011, Hill Dickinson acted for a US subsidiary of the energy giant, BP Oil Supply Company, in a shipping dispute in the English courts with the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia.

BP has in recent years had one of the highest legal bills of any global corporate, largely owing to the fallout from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In 2012, BP told the Financial Times it expected to spend $1.7bn (£1bn) on lawyers and other administrative costs relating to Deepwater, with US firms including Kirkland & Ellis, Arnold & Porter and Wilmer Hale handling the majority of litigation and investigations work for the company in the US.

The spill also landed a role for Freshfields, after the firm was hired by BP to defend it from any potential takeovers in the months following the disaster.