THE chief executive of BP has seen his pay more than double to £10 million, following a year that saw the oil and gas giant make record profits in light of surging commodity prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Bernard Looney received £6m under a performance share plan for 2020-2022, an annual bonus of £2.4m, and a salary of £1.4m for 2022, according to BP’s latest annual report, published today. Mr Looney had received total remuneration of £4.5m in 2021, the report shows.
The BP figures come a day after Shell published its annual report which revealed Ben van Beurden, who recently stepped down as chief executive of the company, had seen his pay more than double, to £9.7m from £6.3m, sparking criticism from Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey.
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The pay awards are likely to draw further criticism from campaigners who have voiced concern about the huge profits oil and gas companies have been making because of the higher commodity prices that have followed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. BP reported profits had more than doubled last year to $27.7bn, while Shell made $39.9bn from its global operations in 2022, compared with $19.3bn last time.
Campaigners have urged the UK Government to extend the Energy Profits Levy further as households and businesses continue to struggle with high energy bills.
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However, oil and gas companies have warned the windfall tax imposed by the UK Government on extraordinary profits may force them to direct investment away from the North Sea. Harbour Energy declared yesterday that the windfall tax had “all but wiped out” its profits for 2022.
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