The compensation of Royal Dutch Shell chief govt Ben van Beurden fell 42% to $ 7 million in 2020, a yr during which the coronavirus pandemic pushed the vitality firm to a historic dividend reduce following the collapse of earnings.

Van Beurden, who initially oversaw the expansion of Shell’s oil and gasoline manufacturing after taking workplace in 2014, is now main the Anglo-Dutch firm in direction of low-carbon vitality with the goal of lowering gasoline emissions at greenhouse impact by 2050.

The unprecedented blow to the vitality sector final yr from the pandemic, which briefly pushed US benchmark oil costs into damaging territory, pressured Shell to chop its dividend for the primary time since World Battle II.

As world demand for oil and gasoline slumped final yr, Shell’s earnings fell to a two-decade low, whereas its shares hit their lowest because the Nineteen Nineties.

Van Beurden’s complete compensation for 2020 was 5.8 million euros ($ 6.93 million), down from round 10 million euros the earlier yr, the corporate revealed in its annual report Thursday.

In 2019, Van Beurden’s compensation had additionally fallen by 51%.

The oil main introduced on Thursday that the previous Andrew Mackenzie, Managing Director of BHP would develop into its subsequent chairman to succeed Charles Holliday, who resigned on Could 18 after holding the submit for six years.

Mackenzie will possible lead the search within the years to come back for a successor to van Beurden.

(1 USD = 0.8375 euros)

(Further reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Modifying by Bernard Orr and Edmund Blair)