THE “sickening reality” of the UK’s “broken energy system” was underlined this morning as it was revealed the boss of BP was paid more than £8 million in 2023.

BP and other major energy companies such as Shell have reported enormous profits in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, which led to a sharp rise in gas prices. It emerged today that BP chief Murray Auchincloss, who was made permanent successor to Bernard Looney in January, was paid a total of £8.03m in 2023, including bonuses of nearly £6.5m.

BP made profits of $13.8 billion in 2023, 50% lower than the year before as gas prices began to ease, and announced a share buyback worth $1.75bn for the fourth quarter. It said this would be followed by the purchase of $3.5bn of shares in the first half of the year, declaring that it expects to complete buybacks worth at least $14bn over 2024-225.

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Campaign group Global Witness declared the pay of Mr Auchincloss was 230 times higher than the UK average salary and equal to the average energy bills of more than 4,700 households. And it said BP had reported $35bn of profits since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

Energy companies have come under heavy criticism for the profits they have made in the last two years while household energy prices spiralled, pushing many people into fuel poverty in the UK.

The UK Government introduced a windfall tax in May 2022 in response to the extraordinary profits that oil and gas companies were making, though it simultaneously introduced tax incentives to encourage firms to invest in the North Sea amid the drive to boost domestic energy production.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt extended the sunset on the energy profits levy by a further year until 2029 in the Budget on Wednesday this week.

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Alice Harrison, fossil fuels campaign leader at Global Witness, said:  "The millions paid out to BP's CEO contrast with the millions of Brits in energy poverty, showing the sickening reality of our broken energy system. People everywhere, struggling to feed their families or heat their homes, have every right to be angry at BP’s huge profits and pay-outs.

She added: "The government is missing the opportunity to introduce a serious windfall tax and CEO bonus tax".

Mr Auchincloss had been BP’s chief financial officer before stepping in to replace Mr Looney as interim boss in September, when the Irishman was forced to resign after it emerged he had not fully disclosed all of his past relationships with colleagues.

The annual report shows that Mr Looney handed back £1.8m to the company in light of his departure. His pay was £1.2m for the year, but the company clawed back nearly £3m, including malus and clawback, from him.

In December, BP formally dismissed Mr Looney with immediate effect following a three-month review, causing him to miss out on £32.4m in pay, share awards and cash bonuses. It was announced that he would receive no further salary, pension allowance or other benefits and that he would not be paid any annual bonus in respect of the 2023 financial year.

BP also said at the time that he would be required to repay half of the cash portion of his annual bonus for the 2022 financial year – totalling £420,000 – and a portion of his share awards that vested in August 2023 from a performance incentive plan covering the years from 2020 to 2022.

The company said 87% of the £32.4m had been “automatically forfeited” when Mr Looney resigned, but 10% was related to the board’s decision that his misconduct was serious enough to justify firing him. A further 3% was to be clawed back at the board’s discretion.

Mr Auchincloss was paid a total of £5.5m in 2022, which included a salary of £782,000 and bonuses of £4.4m. As chief executive, he will be paid a basic salary of £1.45m for 2024.

BP was approached for comment.