BP boss could be in line for special bonus of up to £11.4m

theguardian.com:

BP is set for a clash with investors after it emerged the oil and gas group’s chief executive could be in line for a special bonus of up to £11.4m.

The payment, in shares, will be on top of his £1.38m salary and annual bonus for 2022.

Strong growth in BP’s share price means Bernard Looney is set for a multimillion-pound payout from a three-year share award plan set up in 2020, when countries around the world were in lockdown and the company was slashing jobs as it tried to deal with a global collapse in demand for oil owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

The picture now is very different: earlier this month BP announced its annual profits had more than doubled to $28bn (£23bn) after a sharp increase in gas prices linked to the Russia-Ukraine war boosted earnings. Its share price has now risen above £5.50.

BP has been consulting investors in the run-up to the publication of its annual report in early March, in which Looney’s remuneration will be confirmed. The company has previously acknowledged that some shareholders had talked about the need to improve “transparency” on executive pay.

One leading shareholder told the Sunday Times, which first reported the potential bonus, that payouts towards the top of the range offered by the incentive scheme would amount to “quite a blatant grab” given the rally in oil and gas prices.

A row about executive pay would add to the pressure on BP, which along with players such as Shell, is facing renewed calls for a toughened windfall tax as oil companies reap rewards from higher gas prices while many households and businesses struggle to cope with a sharp rise in energy bills.

Charlie Kronick, a senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace UK, told the Guardian: “These bumper bonuses would be a slap