Shell CEO’s earned $25.7 million in 2014, may revive investor protest

Ben van Beurden, Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive, earned a total of about $26 million for 2014, making him one of the highest-earning FTSE 100 bosses despite last year’s sharp fall in oil prices. The pay levels could revive investor protest after earnings per share in 2014 declined by around 8.5 percent to $2.38 per share.

Van Beurden’s total pay includes 5.6 million euros in salary, bonus and shares plus pension and other items, the company said.

His 2014 compensation, when calculated in British pounds, places him as the second-highest-paid senior executive on the FTSE 100 share index after WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell, whose 2013 pay package reached 29.8 million pounds, according to think tank High Pay Centre.

Van Beurden was appointed to the top position on January 1, 2014 and his prior year’s salary was not disclosed.

Shell spokeswoman Sally Donaldson said van Beurden’s total figure, published in the company’s annual report, was “unusually high” because it included a variety of extra payments related to his long service with Shell and tax payments.

BP said this month Chief Executive Bob Dudley’s total compensation rose by more than 20 percent to $12.74 million in 2014.

Shell’s earnings on a current cost of supplies basis rose to $19 billion in 2014 from $17 billion a year earlier, despite the near halving in oil prices in the second half of the year.

European oil majors have long argued that they have to pay high salaries to retain talented people who otherwise might leave for higher-paying US firms.

By comparison, Rex Tillerson, the long-serving chief executive of Exxon Mobil, earned $40 million in 2012, falling to $28 million in 2013. Chevron’s chief John Watson’s compensation also fell to $24 million in 2013 from $32.2 million in 2012.

Shell, Europe’s largest oil major, has traditionally been among the best paying companies. It paid over $20 million to its previous CEO Peter Voser in 2012 but halved his remuneration to $11.24 million in 2013 following what the company described as a disappointing performance.