BP chief executive Bob Dudley has enjoyed a 13 per cent hike in his annual remuneration to $13.4m (£9.5m) from $11.9m after the oil and gas giant doubled annual profits, writes Mark Williamson.

The increase is disclosed in BP’s 2017 annual report, which shows the firm paid accountancy giants around £225,000 to advise it on boardroom remuneration.

Mr Dudley’s annual remuneration was cut by 40 per cent in 2016 after a shareholder revolt against its pay policy for 2015.

The rise in the latest year was driven by a big increase in the value of performance-based share awards, to $7.8m from $4m. Mr Dudley was paid $1.9m salary in both years. His cash bonus fell to $1.5m last year, from $1.7m.

Dame Ann Dowling, chair of BP’s Remuneration committee, said the firm had performed strongly in 2017 and over the past three years.

“In deciding executive pay for this period... we believe we have fairly reflected BP’s performance, the experience of shareholders and wider context,” she said.

BP paid Deloitte £164,280 and PwC £62,213 for providing advice to the committee in 2017.

It increased annual profits to $6.2 billion, from $2.6bn, helped by the increase in the oil price since late 2016.

BP expects to double its North Sea output to 200,000 barrels a day by 2020.