MOSCOW, March 30 (RIA Novosti) - State-owned company Rosneft said Thursday that a former vice president at Morgan Stanley in Russia had become its chief financial officer in the run-up to the company's much anticipated initial public offering.

Peter O'Brien, 36, will supervise strategic investment projects, external financing, business planning and monitoring for Russia's no.2 crude producer and will head a new group of the Rosneft president's financial advisors.

With the oil company set to launch Russia's biggest IPO to date later this year, O'Brien is expected to join the board April 3 and to become first deputy chairman of the company's investment committee.

O'Brien has worked in the sphere of finance for 11 years. In the past six years he worked with Morgan Stanley and was involved in investment and banking services to oil and natural gas companies in the former Soviet Union and Europe.

O'Brien acted as consultant in the implementation of Novatek and Statoil IPO programs, the Russian government's purchase of a 10.73% stake in Gazprom and TNK-BP formation.

"O'Brien's experience in the implementation of complicated projects and good knowledge of financial markets will be very useful to the company at the current stage of its development," Rosneft said in a news release.