I usually take a stern view of corporate pay packets that are out of line with profits and shareholder value, but I’m prepared to make an exception for Bob Dudley. The American-born chief executive of BP collected $19.6 million last year, up 20 per cent on his 2014 remuneration, while the embattled oil giant clocked up a record loss of $6.5 billion and shed thousands of jobs. But even in the rugged world of oil and gas, few men have survived tougher career challenges than Dudley, who in his previous role as head of the Russian joint venture TNK-BP was so threatened by hostile locals that he had to operate from an undisclosed location outside Russia. He went on to deal with the $55 billion consequences of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that happened under his predecessor Tony Hayward, and to cope with a plunge of oil prices that has thrown the entire industry’s capital investment plans into chaos.
The share price is half what it was before the Gulf of Mexico incident six years ago, but it’s a minor miracle that BP is still an independent company — or even in business at all — after so many setbacks.
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