BP shareholders outrage at Lord Browne's £72m goodbye

The company faced criticism from individual shareholders despite its remuneration report being approved by nearly 83 per cent of shareholders before the meeting thanks to the backing of institutions.

Shareholders, including the Cooperative Insurance Society, also called on the company to include safety measures in its three-year incentive plans for directors.

Spokeswoman Deborah Gillisham asked BP to commit to include "non-financial" targets, including safety, in the plan. But the row over directors' pay continued as investors criticised the company's performance.

One shareholder, Mike Porter, said BP had "broadly underperformed" the FTSE 100 index. Another, John Farmer, added that the company's performance was "arguably pathetic" and called upon the board to justify pay packages.

BP chairman Peter Sutherland said: "It is important to discuss remuneration in the context of overall performance. For example, our net income growth is higher than our two largest competitors last year.

"We have to retain the best that we have, and we believe that they are the best."

Mr Sutherland also defended the pay packet of outgoing chief executive Lord Browne, who has been criticised for being included in the firm's long-term incentive scheme despite leaving his post just six months into the three-year plan.

Mr Sutherland said: "Lord Browne's retirement was brought forward by mutual agreement and he should not be penalised for the decision, given the years he has spent building up the company."

Lord Browne leaves BP with a £5.3 million pay-off in July and a £21.7 million pension pot, as well as millions of pounds in shares due under the incentive plan. In total, the package is believed to reach £72 million. Lord Browne's inclusion in the three-year scheme was criticised by the Pensions Investment Research Consultancy (PIRC), an adviser of pension funds and fund managers, which advised its clients to vote against BP's remuneration report.

Lord Browne has also come under fire from two critical reports into the Texas City refinery explosion in March 2005, which killed 15 workers.

Addressing the meeting, the outgoing chief executive said the day of the accident was the "saddest and darkest" day of his life with the firm and said that building a company which was a leader in process safety would be a "fitting memorial" to the workers who died.

Mr Sutherland said BP expects to appoint an independent safety expert next month. The move was one of the recommendations of the January Baker report into safety of the firm's US refineries.

Despite record results buoyed by higher oil prices, Mr Sutherland said it had been a "varied and turbulent year" for the business.

He added that BP had "failed to live up" to its high standards on safety and said: "As the company faces varied challenges, we as a board have to up our own game."

The company posted profits of 22.25 billion US dollars (£11.34 billion) during 2006.