New boss: Oil giant BG has sparked a pay row by handing its new chief executive Helge Lund (pictured) a bumper pay package worth up to £29m . Oil giant BG has sparked a pay row by handing its new chief executive a bumper package worth up to £29m, making him one of Europe's best-paid oil bosses. Helge Lund was poached from the far larger Norwegian rival Statoil to become its chief executive from March next year, with a package that has been criticised as ‘excessive’. He will be paid £1.5million a year, as well as bonuses worth up to £3million and another share incentive scheme that could pay out up to £9million if he hits performance targets and manages to turn around the flagging British oil and gas producer, based in Reading, Berkshire. Additionally, he could get another £12million in shares over the next five years if the pay committee decides he is doing a good job at Britiain's third-largest energy firm. This particular measure is so controversial that the company shareholders are being asked to vote for it at a special meeting. BG will also generously compensate Lund for the potential share awards he is leaving behind at Statoil to the tune of £3million. Lund, who celebrates his 52nd birthday today, is also being given £480,000 to move his family to Britain, and will have £450,000 a year put into his pension pot as part of the staggering deal. He resigned from his post of CEO of Statoil with immediate effect yesterday to take up the BG role next year. After a run of disappointing candidates, BG insisted it had to pay top whack to get a man suitable to lead the company. BG has been struggling following a string of production downgrades that cost the previous CEO, Chris Finlayson his job in April this year. Finlayson had himself taken over from long-serving Sir Frank Chapman in early 2013 but there were a number of profit warnings during his time in charge . Andrew Gould, BG’s executive chairman, defended the pay deal, saying: ‘The company needs a proven leader from the oil and gas industry to deliver the exceptional opportunities available to it.’ Luke Hildyard, deputy director of the independent think tank High Pay Centre, told MailOnline that the £29million pay package used to entice Lund to the BG post was 'extraordinary'. 'To be paying anyone a package worth up to £29million is too much to be paying anyone, especially who is a bureaucrat, a manager of a company, ' he said. 'The fact that it is seen as acceptable, a regular price to pay for a CEO represents a failure for corporate governance across the UK and that the reforms Vince Cable introduced are not really working.' The Business Secretary introduced changes which gave shareholders the power to stop pay packages that were too generous, enabling them to vote on company pay policies every three years. 'If you think about it you could reduce that package by one per cent of £29million and it would still put you easily in the top one per cent of UK earners and able to afford a lifestyle beyond the imaginations of most people,' said Mr Hildyard. 'He's getting 100 times more than someone who would still be seen as incredibly rich - why is that necessary?' 'The reforms the government brought in do not seem to have had much effect and the telephone number salaries have not stopped. Last year for a FTSE company CEO the going rate was still £4 or £5million and without further action I don't think we are going to see executive pay levels come down to something that is fairer and more proportionate.' In ten years Oslo native Lund was able to transform Norway's once domestic-focused state oil firm into a $77 billion global player. Package: Lund, who celebrates his 52nd birthday today, is also being given £480,000 to move his family to Britain, and will have £450,000 a year put into his pension pot as part of the staggering deal . Last year at Statoil he had earned a base salary of around £720,000, as part of a total package of a £1.3million package. '(Lund) has built a world-class exploration and production portfolio at Statoil, and the company is now widely admired for its technical expertise, financial performance and strong, values-based culture,' said Mr Gould. BG was formed in 1997 when part of the state-owned British Gas  was privatised and split off from other areas of the business, which now operate as Centrica and British Gas. Shares have fallen 20 percent since the start of the year as its important Egyptian gas business performed disastrously due to lower production for exports and its huge investments in Brazil have yet to prove their value. 'In terms of global industry leaders, it is hard to imagine a more suitable candidate,' Investec said in a note. Analysts have suggested that the company might be better focused if it were to spin off either its successful liquefied natural gas (LNG) business or its deepwater Brazilian interests, which promise more than six billion barrels of oil equivalents in recoverable reserves. Salary: £1.5million per year . Assorted bonuses: Up to £3million . Share incentive scheme: Up to £9million . Shares: Up to £12million (in shares) Compensation for leaving Statoil share benefits behind: £3million . Moving his family: £480,000 . Pension: £450,000 per year . 'For leaders, there comes a time when it's right to move on, both for themselves and for the company they run,' said Lund, who added that BG had approached him about the role six to eight weeks ago. 'I've wanted one more leadership challenge. I think I'm too young to retire. This (BG) is a challenge I find exciting, and that's the main motivation.' One of BG's biggest future projects may be an LNG plant in Tanzania, to be jointly built with Statoil, after the firms found more than 30 billion cubic feet of gas in several nearby offshore licence areas. 'BG's key priorities are the delivery of the large new projects, managing decline in its mature regions, the monetisation of some assets and a reinvigoration of its exploration pipeline. Helge Lund has proved successful at this, while at the helm of Statoil,' analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note. Statoil has already appointed Eldar Saetre, currently head of its marketing, processing and renewables division, as its acting chief executive while the firm searches for a permanent replacement for Lund.
Helge Lind poached by British company BG from Norwegian rival Statoil .
He will be paid £1.5m a year, plus bonuses worth up to £3m .
Lund could also earn £9m in share scheme, and receive £12m in shares .
New Norwegian boss will also get £480,000 to move his family .
Package is 'extraordinary', says independent think tank  High Pay Centre .
New boss: Oil giant BG has sparked a pay row by handing its new chief executive Helge Lund (pictured) a bumper pay package worth up to £29m . Oil giant BG has sparked a pay row by handing its new chief executive a bumper package worth up to £29m, making him one of Europe's best-paid oil bosses. Helge Lund was poached from the far larger Norwegian rival Statoil to become its chief executive from March next year, with a package that has been criticised as ‘excessive’. He will be paid £1.5million a year, as well as bonuses worth up to £3million and another share incentive scheme that could pay out up to £9million if he hits performance targets and manages to turn around the flagging British oil and gas producer, based in Reading, Berkshire. Additionally, he could get another £12million in shares over the next five years if the pay committee decides he is doing a good job at Britiain's third-largest energy firm. This particular measure is so controversial that the company shareholders are being asked to vote for it at a special meeting. BG will also generously compensate Lund for the potential share awards he is leaving behind at Statoil to the tune of £3million. Lund, who celebrates his 52nd birthday today, is also being given £480,000 to move his family to Britain, and will have £450,000 a year put into his pension pot as part of the staggering deal. He resigned from his post of CEO of Statoil with immediate effect yesterday to take up the BG role next year. After a run of disappointing candidates, BG insisted it had to pay top whack to get a man suitable to lead the company. BG has been struggling following a string of production downgrades that cost the previous CEO, Chris Finlayson his job in April this year. Finlayson had himself taken over from long-serving Sir Frank Chapman in early 2013 but there were a number of profit warnings during his time in charge . Andrew Gould, BG’s executive chairman, defended the pay deal, saying: ‘The company needs a proven leader from the oil and gas industry to deliver the exceptional opportunities available to it.’ Luke Hildyard, deputy director of the independent think tank High Pay Centre, told MailOnline that the £29million pay package used to entice Lund to the BG post was 'extraordinary'. 'To be paying anyone a package worth up to £29million is too much to be paying anyone, especially who is a bureaucrat, a manager of a company, ' he said. 'The fact that it is seen as acceptable, a regular price to pay for a CEO represents a failure for corporate governance across the UK and that the reforms Vince Cable introduced are not really working.' The Business Secretary introduced changes which gave shareholders the power to stop pay packages that were too generous, enabling them to vote on company pay policies every three years. 'If you think about it you could reduce that package by one per cent of £29million and it would still put you easily in the top one per cent of UK earners and able to afford a lifestyle beyond the imaginations of most people,' said Mr Hildyard. 'He's getting 100 times more than someone who would still be seen as incredibly rich - why is that necessary?' 'The reforms the government brought in do not seem to have had much effect and the telephone number salaries have not stopped. Last year for a FTSE company CEO the going rate was still £4 or £5million and without further action I don't think we are going to see executive pay levels come down to something that is fairer and more proportionate.' In ten years Oslo native Lund was able to transform Norway's once domestic-focused state oil firm into a $77 billion global player. Package: Lund, who celebrates his 52nd birthday today, is also being given £480,000 to move his family to Britain, and will have £450,000 a year put into his pension pot as part of the staggering deal . Last year at Statoil he had earned a base salary of around £720,000, as part of a total package of a £1.3million package. '(Lund) has built a world-class exploration and production portfolio at Statoil, and the company is now widely admired for its technical expertise, financial performance and strong, values-based culture,' said Mr Gould. BG was formed in 1997 when part of the state-owned British Gas  was privatised and split off from other areas of the business, which now operate as Centrica and British Gas. Shares have fallen 20 percent since the start of the year as its important Egyptian gas business performed disastrously due to lower production for exports and its huge investments in Brazil have yet to prove their value. 'In terms of global industry leaders, it is hard to imagine a more suitable candidate,' Investec said in a note. Analysts have suggested that the company might be better focused if it were to spin off either its successful liquefied natural gas (LNG) business or its deepwater Brazilian interests, which promise more than six billion barrels of oil equivalents in recoverable reserves. Salary: £1.5million per year . Assorted bonuses: Up to £3million . Share incentive scheme: Up to £9million . Shares: Up to £12million (in shares) Compensation for leaving Statoil share benefits behind: £3million . Moving his family: £480,000 . Pension: £450,000 per year . 'For leaders, there comes a time when it's right to move on, both for themselves and for the company they run,' said Lund, who added that BG had approached him about the role six to eight weeks ago. 'I've wanted one more leadership challenge. I think I'm too young to retire. This (BG) is a challenge I find exciting, and that's the main motivation.' One of BG's biggest future projects may be an LNG plant in Tanzania, to be jointly built with Statoil, after the firms found more than 30 billion cubic feet of gas in several nearby offshore licence areas. 'BG's key priorities are the delivery of the large new projects, managing decline in its mature regions, the monetisation of some assets and a reinvigoration of its exploration pipeline. Helge Lund has proved successful at this, while at the helm of Statoil,' analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note. Statoil has already appointed Eldar Saetre, currently head of its marketing, processing and renewables division, as its acting chief executive while the firm searches for a permanent replacement for Lund.
bosses. Helge Lund was poached from the far larger Norwegian rival Statoil to become its He will be paid £1.5million a year, as well as bonuses worth up to £3million and another share Additionally, he could get another £12million in today, is also being given £480,000 to move his company. BG has been struggling following a deputy director of the independent think tank High Pay Centre, told MailOnline that the given £480,000 to move his family to Britain, and