BP boss Bernard Looney’s pay package more than doubles to £10m - The Guardian
BP boss Bernard Looney’s pay package more than doubles to £10m | BP | The Guardian
The pay package of the BP chief executive, Bernard Looney, has more than doubled to £10m after a year in which the oil and gas giant posted record profits linked to the war in Ukraine.
His package included a salary of £1.4m, a bonus of £2.4m – down fractionally on 2021 – and a £6m share award, as well as benefits. The total package was 120% more than the £4.5m he received in 2021.
BP last month reported annual profits of £23bn after its earnings jumped because of soaring wholesale gas prices, sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and cuts to supplies into Europe.
Looney could have received a bonus of up to £11.4m under a three-year share award plan that was devised in 2020, when the Covid pandemic punctured oil demand and forced BP to cut 10,000 jobs.
However, the bounceback in oil and gas prices has led to record profits during the energy crisis. BP and its rivals have been lambasted by MPs and campaigners for raking in huge profits while households struggle to pay their gas and electricity bills.
Campaigners have called for energy firms to face tougher windfall taxes and for bonuses to be cut. Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of the British Gas owner, Centrica, refused to say whether he would waive a forthcoming bonus of up to £1.6m.
On Thursday, BP’s rival Shell said that its former chief executive, Ben van Beurden, who stood down at the end of last year, had seen his total pay rise from £6.3m in 2021 to £9.7m in 2022. His bonus rose from £2.2m in 2021 to £2.6m in 2022.
The Sunday Times reported last month that BP had faced pressure from investors over the level of payouts to executives.
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BP’s chief executives have landed about 50% of their maximum bonus over the last decade on average.
The company caused dismay last month by cutting its emissions pledges and plans a greater production of oil and gas over the next seven years compared with previous targets.