Former Eni manager Stefano Cao will be appointed chief executive of Italian oil service company Saipem to replace Umberto Vergine at a shareholder meeting in April, two sources close to the matter said.

"There's a consensus in the company and government on this position," one of the sources said.

Cao, who was executive chairman of Saipem until 2000, was a long-standing manager at state-controlled oil major Eni, which he left in 2008.

Eni, which owns 43 percent of Saipem, declined to comment.

The board of Saipem will be renewed at a shareholder meeting scheduled for April 30. (Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Giancarlo Navach