IRISHMAN AIDAN Heavey was paid £2.36 million by successful oil and gas producer Tullow Oil in 2011, up 41.6 per cent on the previous year.

Tullow’s chief executive and founder earned £1.67 million in 2010.

Tullow’s annual report, published yesterday, shows that Mr Heavey was paid a salary of £815,340 in 2011, up 20 per cent on the previous year. His bonus was broken down into a cash payment of £611,505 and shares worth £693,039.

Mr Heavey also earned a pension payment of £203,835, and taxable benefits (including car benefits) of £41,304.

In total, Tullow’s five executive directors were paid £7.7 million last year compared with £5.4 million in 2010.

This amounted to an increase in remuneration of 42.5 per cent for the executives.

“The changes made during the year reflect the successful growth of our business over the last three years [market capitalisation increasing by 262 per cent over the period] and the reduction in the competitiveness of the remuneration packages for the executive directors [salaries were well below median],” David Bamford, chairman of Tullow’s remuneration committee, explained to shareholders in the report.

Irishman Pat Plunkett was paid £220,000 last year as chairman, which represented an increase of 20 per cent on his remuneration in 2010.

Mr Plunkett retired at the end of 2011 and has been replaced by Briton Simon Thompson.

Tullow’s annual report states that Mr Heavey’s total shareholding was unchanged at the end of last year at 6.4 million shares. These were worth £92.8 million at the close of trading yesterday.

In addition to his remuneration, Mr Heavey was awarded an additional 300,000 shares last year as part of a performance share plan from 2005. Mr Heavey held 722,351 shares under this plan at the end of 2011.

The Tullow chief executive also received 19,995 shares under a deferred share bonus plan. He holds 126,681 shares in total under this plan.

In his chief executive’s review, Mr Heavey said the value of Tullow’s shares – which are dual listed in London and Dublin – was affected last year by a number of issues.

“The global economy weakened during the year creating greater market uncertainty and instability.

“The longer time frame for completion of the Ugandan transactions and disappointment over deferred production from Ghana also had an effect.

“Despite this, total shareholder return for 2011 was 12 per cent compared with a negative 2 per cent return for the FTSE 100 for the same period.”

For 2012, Mr Heavey said he expected “significant progress” in Ghana and Uganda as the company grows its Jubilee production and progresses the Jubilee Phase 1A, TEN and Lake Albert developments.

“We have a very exciting exploration programme ahead of us to open new basins and we expect to extend our reach in Africa and elsewhere along the Atlantic margins with major new partnerships,” he said.