By Sabrina Valle and Arunima Kumar
(Reuters) -Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Darren Woods received $36.9 million in total compensation for 2023, up nearly 3% from a year earlier, the oil major said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.
And in proxy filing ahead of its May 29 annual meeting of shareholders, Exxon (NYSE:XOM) recommended its investors vote against all proposals submitted by a minority of shareholders.
These include calls to cut executive pay incentives for greenhouse gas emission reductions, an additional pay report on gender and racial bias and an extra report on plastic pollution.
Exxon has successfully blocked proposals by activist investors after filing a complaint in court. Arjuna Capital and shareholder activist group Follow This dropped their proposal demanding tighter climate targets following the suit.
The U.S. oil major says analyzing each proposal can cost companies up to $150,000, and only less than 4% of the 140 proposals filed since 2014 have passed
Woods was awarded almost 200 times the median pay for an Exxon worker, despite this increasing 8% last year to $185,376.
Chevron (NYSE:CVX) CEO Michael Wirth also saw total compensation increase, by 12.2%, to $26.5 million in 2023, equal to about 150 times the $175,673 the average pay for the oil major's workers.
Part of a CEO's compensation is given by companies in equity, so the final value can only be known when options are exercised or stocks are sold.
Other incentives for Woods included $297,295 for setting up a new residential security system and another $485,758 for relocation after the closure of Exxon's office in Irving and its move to Spring, which are both in Texas.
Three other top Exxon executives received about $1 million in total to relocate to Spring.
The pay hikes come even as profits from oil majors have fallen by about a third from record levels in 2022, as oil and gas prices retreated from a spike when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Exxon ended 2023 with a profit of $36 billion, versus $55.7 billion it earned a year earlier.