Pay Boost For Royal Dutch Shell Boss Despite Fall In Profits

Pay Boost For Royal Dutch Shell Boss Despite Fall In Profits

The boss of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell was handed a 54% hike in his pay package last year to 8.59 million euro (£7.5 million) despite sliding profits.

Chief executive Ben van Beurden's pay deal came as he was awarded a potential 4.4 million euro (£3.8 million) under a long-term shares bonus scheme, according to the group's annual report.

But his annual bonus was cut by nearly a third to 2.4 million euro (£2.1 million) after Shell saw annual profits drop 8% to a worse-than-expected 3.5 billion US dollars (£2.9 billion) in 2016, a year in which it also axed another 2,200 jobs.

It suffered a lacklustre fourth quarter despite a bounce-back in oil prices.

The annual report also confirmed bonuses for top management would be tied to greenhouse gas emission management from this year.

It said 10% of director bonuses would be calculated depending on how well it manages emissions such as methane and carbon dioxide from its refining, chemical plants and upstream businesses.

Shell saw 86% of investors approve its pay policy and 14% vote against it at last year's annual general meeting after investor groups had raised concerns over Mr van Beurden's pay.

Rival BP suffered a shareholder defeat over its pay plans last year, which included a pay deal of 19.6 million dollars (£16.1 million) for chief executive Bob Dudley.

In Shell's latest annual report, Gerard Kleisterlee, chair of Shell's remuneration committee (Remco), told investors: "Some of you have highlighted the ongoing public debate over levels of executive remuneration and I assure you that Remco is sensitive to that discussion."

The report showed Mr van Beurden's salary increased by 2.1% to 1.46 million euro (£1.3 million) last year, while the group's employees saw their pay rise 1.8%.

Shell, which sealed a £35 billion takeover of BG Group in February last year, also announced a deal on Thursday to sell most of its Canadian oil sands assets for 7.3 billion US dollars (£6 billion) to Canadian Natural.

The group is also cutting its stake in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project from 60% to 10%, but will retain "significant" other resources in Canada, where it has had a presence for over 100 years.

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