Former Shell boss sees pay soar 50%

Ben van Beurden, Shell’s recently departed chief executive, was paid nearly £10m last year.

Publishing its annual report, Shell said van Beurden’s pay - a 53% jump on the previous year, to £9.7m - included a base salary of £1.4m, an annual bonus of £2.59m and nearly £5m under the company’s long-term incentive plan. The bonus was paid in cash and shares.

Wael Sawan, who took over from van Beurden in January, will also receive a base salary of £1.4m.

Wholesale energy prices have rocketed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, leading to a surge in profits at energy companies. Shell reported annual profits of $39.9bn in 2022, the highest in its 115-year history and double the previous year’s figure.

In response to soaring wholesale prices, the UK government last year introduced the Energy Bills Support Scheme to help households with mounting gas and electricity bills, and announced a windfall tax on energy companies.

However, the levy only applies to profits made from extracting UK oil and gas and not on refining, or on selling petrol and diesel. Although Shell has relocated its headquarters to London from the Netherlands, less than 5% of its global profits come from UK production, meaning it has been largely unaffected by the levy.

Van Beurden, who has spent his entire career at Shell, announced last September he would step down as chief executive after nine years at the helm.

Sawan was previously head of Shell’s integrated gas and renewables division.