𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The boss of Shell saw his pay package jump to £13.8 million for the past year despite delivering lower profits at the oil giant.

It came as the company outlined proposals to revamp its executive pay policy, in a move which would enable its boss to receive even larger bonuses in future years.

The FTSE 100 firm’s annual report showed chief executive Wael Sawan saw his total pay deal rise for 2025 by almost 60% compared with the previous year.

He received £1.9 million in his fixed salary, pension and benefits for the year, but saw this heavily eclipsed by around £11.8 million of bonuses.

This included a £2.7 million bonus for the year and a £9.1 million share award linked to longer-term targets.

It represents the first year that Mr Sawan could receive a full pay package because of the three-year vesting period for his long-term share awards.

The group’s finance boss, Sinead Gorman, saw her total pay deal jump to £8.5 million for 2025 from £7.25 million a year earlier.

The higher total pay deals came despite Shell reporting a worse-than-expected 22% plunge in annual profits last year.

Last month, the oil firm said underlying earnings – which strips out some commodity-price adjustments and one-off charges – dropped to 18.53 billion US dollars (£13.6 billion) for 2025 after a 40% plunge quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of the year.

Nevertheless, shares in the company have risen by more than 26% over the past year.

This includes a roughly 12% rise over the past month, with the group among energy firms to have benefited from a jump in oil and gas prices driven by the conflict between Iranian and US-Israeli forces.

Shell stressed that the overall pay deal is “commensurate with his position at a major global energy company and one of the FTSE’s largest companies”.

Andrew Speke, interim director of the High Pay Centre, said: “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.”

The company has also outlined proposals to change its pay policy for executives, which shareholders will vote on at its annual general meeting in May.

The new policy will allow for a potential 50% increase in the long-term bonus that Mr Sawan could receive as chief executive.

He would now be able to receive a long-term stock award worth up to nine times his £1.53 million salary, meaning it could reach as high as £13.8 million if certain performance measures are hit and the move is approved by shareholders.

This would relate to long-term awards which take three years to vest.

A Shell spokesman said: “Every three years, Shell seeks shareholder approval for a new executive director remuneration policy as a standard part of regulations for UK listed companies.

“The last vote was in 2023, so this is part of the usual cycle.

“The proposals have been published in the 2025 annual report today and will be voted on at the AGM (annual general meeting).”