* Rosneft spokesman said Bogdanchikov is still president
* Khudainatov appointment has long been rumored
* Bogdanchikov fell out of favor with board chairman
* Company withdrew Khudainatov acting CEO title on web site
(Adds change of Khudainatov's title on website)
By Katya Golubkova and Dmitry Zhdannikov
MOSCOW, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Rosneft executive Eduard Khudainatov has been identified as successor to longtime President Sergei Bogdanchikov, three sources in the government and industry told Reuters on Friday.
The appointment would end long-running speculation about the top job at Russia's largest oil producer after Bogdanchikov's contract expired in late June.
Earlier on Friday, Khudainatov had send a congratulatory message to staff to mark the forthcoming oil and gas industry workers' day in the role of acting president, according to the firm's website www.rosneft.ru -- a title which was later changed to first vice president.
Reuters has both versions of the text.
A company spokesman said Bogdanchikov is still at the helm of the company.
"The company's president is Sergei Bogdanchikov, who has left for a business trip. According to the internal corporate regulations, the duty of the president is performed by his first deputy in his absence," he said.
Sources have said Bogdanchikov, who has run the company since its bankruptcy in the late 1990s, had lost the confidence of board chairman Igor Sechin, the powerful deputy to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
POSSIBLE CANDIDATES
Earlier this week, Bogdanchikov, travelling with Putin and Sechin in Siberia, said he would not leave the company "under any circumstances." Sechin, a deputy to Putin, declined comment.
But a source close to Rosneft said: "It's Khudainatov now. It will probably be announced in a week."
Three possible candidates had been mooted to replace Bogdanchikov: Deputy Energy Minister Sergei Kudryashov and incoming Rosneft Chief Financial Officer Pavel Fyodorov as well as Khudainatov.
Fyodorov, until recently a Morgan Stanley banker, was reported to be a candidate by Vedomosti newspaper earlier this week but deemed an unlikely replacement for Bogdanchikov by Reuters' sources.
"Why Khudainatov? He has a lot of experience and knows how to drill for oil. Kudrashov is more a ministry man," a government source said.
Another industry source familiar with the matter confirmed Khudainatov as a next Rosneft CEO. "All are talking about him", he said.
The Rosneft source said the management change had been discussed at a board meeting on Monday.
A second Rosneft source confirmed the board met on Monday and discussed a secret item on the agenda, while a third source close to the board confirmed the meeting on Monday but said the agenda was not about Bogdanchikov's resignation.
"It was a different question", he said without elaboration and declined to comment on Khudainatov. (Additional reporting by Melissa Akin and Gleb Gorodyankin; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Toni Vorobyova and David Holmes)