BP denies bonuses to top executives after spill

LONDON (Reuters) - BP <BP.L> will not pay bonuses for 2010 to the top executives whose divisions were involved in the worst-ever oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, the company said in an annual report dominated by the disaster.

"Remuneration decisions for 2010 were dominated by the scale and impact of the accident in the Gulf of Mexico," said Remuneration Committeee chairman DeAnne Julius in the company's annual report.

"The rumuneration committee shared the group chief executive's view that no bonuses should be paid on group-level results."

Hayward and Inglis both left the company in October 2010.

Annual bonuses were paid, however, to BP's chief financial officer Bryon Grote and refining and marketing chief executive Iain Conn.

The two directors were paid part of their overall bonuses after their respective units met targets, but their total bonuses for 2010 were around 90 percent lower than what they received as a bonus payment the year before.

Just days before the Macondo well blowout which led to the oil spill last year, some of BP's shareholders criticized its pay policies but sentiment toward that remuneration report was an improvement from the previous year when more than a third of investors voted against it.

RESERVES LOWER

BP also said its proven oil and natural gas reserves fell 1.2 percent in 2010 reflecting the impact of a $30 billion asset disposal program to help pay for the spill, the bill for which it has estimated at around $41 billion.

The company added that it had created a more powerful safety and operational risk (S&OR) unit which would operate independently to help boost its commitment to safety.