The fat cat boss of oil giant Shell raked in more than £6.3million last year - as households and motorists are reeling from a cost of living crisis.
Bigwig Ben van Beurden, 63, saw his pay and perks leap by £1.1million in 2021, the industry giant’s annual report published today revealed.
The windfall included a bumper £4.5million worth of bonuses.
Last year’s payout takes the amount Mr van Beurden has netted since he took over as chief executive in 2014 to £76million.
The latest bonanza emerged just weeks before 22 million UK households will be hit with a record surge in energy bills.
The average £700 a year bill shock is mainly due to the sky-high cost of wholesale gas.
While Shell does not control that cost, it has been a big winner, with annual profits soaring to £14billion.
It led to calls for a windfall tax on Shell and its rival BP.
Mr van Beurden claimed a “small player” like Shell could not itself influence the price of energy much.
“On one hand, we see a booming market, particularly for gas, but also for oil,” he said.
“But at the same time, we are struggling as an industry to keep up with supply,”
Dutch national Mr van Beurden, who is selling his exclusive £5.5million estate in the Hague, with a nine-bedroom mansion, guest quarters, sauna and gym, is unlikely to be worrying how he will pay his energy bill.
His basic salary alone has risen by 3.5% to £1.42million - equivalent to £27,300 a week.
Andy Prendergast, national secretary of the GMB union, said: “To see the boss of Shell trouser more than £6million while bills are crippling families and countries scrabble around trying to ditch Russian gas is abhorrent.”
Tessa Khan, an international climate change lawyer and founder of campaign group Uplift, said: “Oil and gas executives like Ben van Beurden want us to keep buying what they’re selling because it’s making them insanely rich.
“Instead of lining their pockets, we need to get off oil and gas by turbo-charging our renewables industry and insulating homes.”
Mr van Beurden is believed to own shares in Shell worth around £17.4million.
Details of his pay emerged days after Shell said it planned a complete withdrawal from the Russian oil and gas market.
But it was forced to apologise for buying Russian oil last week.
