Shell former chairman gets £1m payout

Troubled oil group Shell said today that former chairman Philip Watts got a pay-off of more than £1m (€1.5m) after quitting over the company’s reserves crisis.

Shell said Watts received a £1,057,971 (€1,590,194) lump sum after resigning in March following the company’s shock revelation that it had overstated its reserves by 20%.

The amount was based on his salary as an employee of the oil group until his normal retirement date in June 2005, Shell said.

It added Watts forfeited various stock options and share grants and did not receive a performance-related annual bonus for 2003 or 2004.

But he retains the legal right to a pension of £584,070 (€877,842) per year under the company’s pension scheme, to which he had contributed for the past 35 years.