BP CEO Bob Dudley Takes Home Nearly 20 Percent Pay Hike Despite Record Losses For Oil Giant

BP had a tough year in 2015, but it was a good one for its CEO, Bob Dudley.

Dudley’s total pay rose 20 percent to $19.6 million in 2015, a year that saw record losses for the global energy giant amid slumping oil prices. The company also laid off thousands of workers worldwide.

Last month, BP announced a $6.5 billion loss for 2015, driven in large part by the decline in crude oil prices. Last year, the London-based oil corporation also reached a $20 billion settlement over its 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill — a disaster that killed 11 workers and caused widespread environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil prices plummeted over the last year and now trade under $35 a barrel. In March 2015, by contrast, prices hovered above $60 a barrel. The prolonged slump has affected the industry worldwide, forcing producers to cut jobs and readjust expectations.

BP also disclosed Friday that executive directors did not see any salary increases in 2015.

“In an ever more challenging world BP executives performed strongly in 2015 in managing the things they could control and for which they were accountable,” the company said in its annual report. “BP was one of the first to recognize the shift to a ‘lower for longer’ price environment and through early action delivered distinctive competitive performance on costs.”

The company said it expects for prices to remain low in the near term. Analysts point to relatively strong output from both U.S. and foreign state-owned producers.

However, the world’s top oil exporting nations, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, are planning to discuss the possibility of capping production in the hopes of lifting prices. A critical meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC members, such as Russia, is slated for March 20 in Moscow.