Shell Plc’s former head of oil trading in the US was stiffed on his 2020 bonus by more than $29 million, he claims in a lawsuit that shines a light on compensation inside the oil major’s lucrative trading unit.
John Dimech alleges that even though his unit’s profits doubled in 2020, his bonus for that year was little changed after Shell unexpectedly modified pay calculations, according to the lawsuit in federal court in Texas. If Shell had adhered to its established formula for calculating bonuses, Dimech claims he would have received about $40 million. But he only got about $11 million instead.
Shell doesn’t disclose the performance of its trading unit to investors. According to Dimech, the North America crude group boosted profit from already-record levels as businesses shut and people hunkered down at home during the onset of the pandemic.
“Shell has a competitive pay and benefits program, benchmarked across the energy industry,” a spokesperson for the London-based company said, declining to comment further on the ongoing litigation.
The lawsuit was filed after an internal arbitration and attempts to negotiate didn’t bear fruit, according to the complaint in federal court in Houston. Shell is seeking to transfer the case to a court in the UK.
Dimech, who had been based in Houston and left the company in 2021 for his home country of Australia, didn’t return messages seeking further comment.
Dimech worked for Shell for 30 years, including more than 20 years in the trading unit, according to the lawsuit filed in January. At the time referenced in the lawsuit, he was president of Shell’s trading arm in the US and general manager of North America crude trading.
While it’s unclear how much money the North American crude trading group made in 2020, Shell’s trading profits average close to $1 billion, Dimech said in separate court documents.
