BP’s executive pay packages rejected

BP SUFFERED a bruising revolt against its executive pay deals as 32pc of investors refused to back last year’s remuneration policy.

The vote came as chief executive Bob Dudley said BP could act as a ‘bridge’ between Russia and the West, in the light of the stand-off over Ukraine, thanks to its near 20pc stake in Kremlin-backed energy giant Rosneft.

At a lively annual meeting, 13pc of investors who filled in a ballot voted against Dudley’s 2013 pay deal, worth up to £6.6m, while 19pc declined to support it by abstaining.

Several shareholders criticised the scale of BP’s largesse, even though pay committee chairman Antony Burgmans warned that directors frequently receive ‘offers from elsewhere’.

The revolt came despite a change of heart by City institution Standard Life Investments, which voted in favour after last year telling BP to ‘raise its game’ when setting the targets used to calculate pay.

BP’s exposure to Russia, as well as its legal battle against Gulf of Mexico compensation claims, dominated the rest of the agenda. Dudley said trade links between Russia and Europe had been ‘an important source of security’. He added: ‘That has to continue. We play an important role and a bridge.’

The American also insisted it was highly unlikely that Russia would flex its muscles by turning off the gas taps to Europe.

One shareholder said BP (up 1.1p to 484p) had underestimated the ‘litigious nature of Americans’ by agreeing to an oil spill compensation settlement with ‘loose wording’ following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010. But Dudley said the settlement wording was being wilfully misinterpreted.

‘If you write an agreement that’s pretty clear and someone decides to interpret it in a different way, you have a fight,’ said Dudley.

Another investor said people in Louisiana were given to jumping in front of cars in the hope of a payout. ‘You’re describing the atmosphere there very well,’ said BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg.