Independent review

THE GUARDIAN

BP boss's pay goes up 22% to £5m

Terry Macalister
Thursday March 11, 2004
The Guardian

Lord Browne, the chief executive of BP, saw a 22% increase in earnings last year, bringing his total pay to just under £5m, it emerged yesterday.

Details of the salary package were given in the company's annual report as senior figures at rival Shell were forced to defend the reputation of new chairman Jeroen van der Veer over the reserves scandal.

BP defended the pay increases, pointing out that net income at the oil company had risen by some 42% last year to reach a record of $12.4bn (£6.8bn).

"Lord Browne is paid adequately for doing an excellent job heading up one of the world's largest companies," said a BP spokesman.

The remuneration package, at £4.8m, is down nearly £1m on 2001, but it is considerably higher than the £3.9m earned in 2002.

Lord Browne also has a pension pot worth nearly £14m.

The big jump last year in his long-term performance plan payments was the culmination of shares awarded under a "points" system running over a three-year period, the BP spokesman said.

Lord Browne is one of Britain's most successful and admired industrialists and has masterminded a huge increase in the scale of the oil business through a series of audacious takeovers.

But his pay could attract the anger of motoring organisations who think petrol is too expensive, and was criticised last night by environmental groups who do not like to see the BP boss making so much money out of carbon fuels.

Rob Gueterbock, the head of climate change campaigning at Greenpeace, said: "He could give £4m to his renewable energy business and still have money left to buy another nice house."

The figures certainly put the BP boss's former rival at Shell in the shade.

Sir Philip Watts - who was dismissed from his position on March 3 over an oil reserves scandal - earned only £1.8m in 2002.

The size of Sir Philip's 2003 financial package will not be known until the Shell annual report is published next week.

The company's audit committee boss, Aad Jacobs, tried to put an end to speculation yesterday that Mr Van der Veer knew about the reserves problems as much as two years ago.

Delivering a preliminary report into the scandal, Mr Jacobs declared that he had "recommended to the [Shell] boards and external auditors that they should feel confident in relying on the representations of the group's senior management".