Enterprise Oil chairman doubles his money

SIR Graham Hearne, chairman of the oil exploration group Enterprise Oil, doubled his pay to pounds 800,000 last year after the first payout was made under its long term performance scheme, writes Michael Harrison.

Shares worth a total of pounds 1.05m were granted to the five executive board directors, equivalent to 84 per cent of their potential entitlement, based on Enterprise's performance in the last three years. Sir Graham received shares worth pounds 392,000 to add to his pay of pounds 404,000 last year. This year a further 185,000 shares worth just under pounds 1m have been allocated to executive directors. A proportion of them will be granted in 2000 depending on performance.

The highest paid director was the chief executive, Pierre Jungels, who received a total of pounds 422,000, including an annual bonus of pounds 49,000. Mr Jungels was conditionally awarded 73,000 shares last year under the performance scheme with a current value of pounds 388,000.