The CEO of BG Just Arrived in February, and Could Walk With $43 Million

Lund, who joined BG on Feb. 9 after heading Norway’s Statoil ASA, is entitled to liquidated damages equal to a year’s gross salary and 30 percent of base pay, the Reading, England-based company’s annual report showed. That could bring his total compensation, including long-term incentive share awards, to as much as 28.8 million pounds ($43 million) by the time the Shell takeover is completed early next year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on BG statements.

Shell’s cash-and-shares acquisition of BG, which would be the oil and gas industry’s biggest deal in at least a decade, was announced less than two months after Lund, 52, rushed into the CEO role three weeks earlier than planned. BG’s initial remuneration offer in October, which would potentially have made Lund Europe’s best-paid oil-industry executive, was watered down two months later after a shareholder rebellion.

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Still, Lund’s compensation for a year’s work at BG will by far surpass his accumulated salary from 10 years at the helm of Statoil, Norway’s state-controlled oil and gas producer.

“The shares Helge has been granted are subject to the performance of BG up to the point of completion of this transaction,” BG spokeswoman Yulia Caris said in an e-mail, referring to Shell’s acquisition of the company. “We have a very clear and rigorous policy, and under that policy this issue will not get assessed until completion. Until that point, we do not know what the amount will be.”