London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Former Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden takes home nearly £10m for 2022 as company profits from high energy prices

Former Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden takes home nearly £10m for 2022 as company profits from high energy prices

There are renewed calls for executive bonuses to be subject to "proper" windfall taxes after Ben van Beurden took home 294 times the median wage in 2022 - or what a typical UK worker would earn in six lifetimes, according to a human rights campaign group.
Shell's chief executive earned £9.7m last year, a 53% pay rise, as the company reported record profits due to elevated global energy prices.

The chief executive for 2022, Ben van Beurden, had his pay increase from £6.3m in 2021.

The nearly £10m figure includes an annual bonus for the year of £2.6m, a salary of £1.4m and £4.9m through a long-term share bonus.

Mr van Beurden stepped down in January and was succeeded by Wael Sawan, Shell's former director of integrated gas, renewables and energy solutions.

The oil and gas company said in its annual report, published on Thursday, that Mr Sawan was appointed with a salary of £1.4m that does not include bonus and other performance-related payments.

But as with Mr van Beurden, Mr Sawan is eligible for a target annual bonus of 125% of his salary and long-term shares worth up to 300% of his salary.

NGO Global Witness said Mr van Beurden's pay award is 294 times the median wage of £33,000.

Fossil fuels campaign leader at the group, Alison Harrison, said Shell's chief executive earned in one year "what a typical UK worker would earn in six lifetimes".

She added: "Surely most of us can agree that one person shouldn't be able to amass such huge wealth on the back of a fossil-fuel-funded war in Ukraine and a global energy crisis?"

Shell had announced annual profits of $39.9bn (£32.2bn) for 2022, doubling from a year earlier and far exceeding the previous record of $31bn in 2008.

The majority of profits came from Shell's gas operations.

Anger at the sums also came from the leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Ed Davey posted on Twitter to say: "Outrageous that the boss of Shell raked in over £10m while families struggle to heat their homes.

"Rishi Sunak's refusal to properly tax these eye-watering bonuses and record profits is mind-boggling and shows how out of touch he is."

Windfall taxes have been introduced on energy producer profits and Shell has been hit with an estimated $2.3bn (£1.86bn) in windfall taxes for 2022.

As a result, it is expected to pay taxes in the UK for the first time since 2017.

The UK windfall tax, announced when Rishi Sunak was chancellor, means energy-making firms pay a 25% levy on profits, which will be phased out when energy prices return to normal - but companies get tax breaks worth 91p for every £1 invested.

Ms Harrison from Global Witness called on the government to extend its windfall tax to include executive bonuses.

"We can't afford to keep on propping up an industry that prioritises the profits of the wealthy few over the basic needs of ordinary people," she said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×