Shell boss nets £13.8MILLION payout as agency’s clients face hovering vitality prices

The boss of Shell netted £13.8million in pay and bonuses last year despite lower profits at the oil giant.

The FTSE 100 firm’s annual report showed chief executive Wael Sawan saw his total pay package jump 60 per cent last year.

But the bumper payout faced backlash amid fears of another rise in energy and fuel prices triggered by the Middle East conflict.

While many customers are protected from energy bill rises in the short term due to the energy price cap, which will be locked at £1,641 per year for the average customer from April until June, their costs could rise if the conflict goes on after that. The price of fixed tariffs is already rising. 

Oil prices are nearing $100 barrel again amid concerns over disruption to supplies, which has helped push shares in oil majors higher. Shell shares are up 6 per cent since the start of the conflict.

Sawan received £1.9million in his fixed salary, pension and benefits for the year, and £11.8million of bonuses. This included a £2.7million annual bonus and a £9.1million share award linked to longer-term targets.

Finance boss Sinead Gorman received a total pay deal worth £8.5million, up from £7.25million a year earlier.

Shell has faced backlash for bumper pay packages amid fears of rising energy and fuel prices

Chair Cyrus Taraporevala said Sawan had ‘acted with urgency’ to deliver ‘consistent’ performance and ‘sharpen Shell’s strategic focus’.

Sawan’s pay increase came despite Shell’s weaker-than-expected profits last month amid steep falls in oil prices. The oil giant said underlying earnings dropped to £13.6billion last year, after a 40 per cent fall in the final quarter.

Shell said it planned to revamp its executive policy, with shareholders able to vote at its annual general meeting in May.

It said it would no longer benchmark executive pay against major European companies and global energy giants, but against major global companies in ‘systematically important sectors,’ including AstraZeneca and Boeing.

It expects to raise Sawan’s fixed salary by 4 per cent this year, with a potential maximum package of £27.5million, including bonuses. 

Andrew Speke, Interim Director of the High Pay Centre, said the pay rise reflects a broader trend of FTSE firms showing less restraint in handing bosses bumper bonuses.

‘As consumers face rising energy and fuel costs, this news will be deeply unpopular. The substantial pay rise for Shell’s CEO appears to be part of a wider pattern in which leading FTSE 100 companies are showing much less restraint in executive remuneration.

‘In the City, higher pay is often justified as necessary to compete with US counterparts, while there is little sign that the government intends to challenge this trend.’