Shell boss takes £300k pay cut after plummeting oil price led to 10,000 job cuts

Pay cut: Shell boss Ben van Beurden

Shell's boss has taken an 8 per cent pay cut after a year in which the firm was hit by plummeting oil prices and cut 10,000 jobs.

Chief executive Ben van Beurden’s salary fell from £4.4m in 2014 to £4.02m in 2015.

His total pay and benefits for the past year was £4.3m, a whopping fall from £18.7m in 2014 – though this huge pay packet was largely due to a one-off contribution to his pension following promotion to the top job.

Van Beurden’s pay is in sharp contrast to BP boss Bob Dudley who saw his 2015 pay rise almost a fifth to £13.8m – despite overseeing the company’s worst ever results with losses of £3.6bn.

The oil industry has been hit hard by a sharp drop in the oil price, though since the start of this year prices have seen a modest recovery and now stand at around $40 per barrel.

Shell’s profits have fallen 80pc in the past year to £2.6bn, but the company still went ahead with a £36bn takeover of BG Group in February.

Shell warned yesterday that tougher times could lie ahead, and said if oil prices stay low it could make a loss and be forced to delay or cancel projects.

A Shell spokesman said: ‘Shell’s executive compensation reflects delivery of our strategy, measured by both short-term and long-term targets.

‘There is a clear alignment between the company’s performance and our compensation policies.’

Shell’s shares fell 3 per cent yesterday to 1641p.