Shareholders in oil giant Shell have backed a package of rewards which offers senior executives shares worth up to twice their salary.

At the company's annual meeting in London yesterday, a motion backing the group's Long Term Incentive Plan received more than 92 per cent of the vote on provisional figures.

The new scheme is in addition to a remuneration package under which chairman Sir Philip Watts earned £1.8 million last year at a time when both profits and the share price fell.

Shareholders also rubber-stamped the company's remuneration report, despite calls for them to vote against it.

The National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), whose members own about a fifth of the stock market, had called for a vote against the package, saying the company had not provided enough information.

The call for a shareholder rebellion attracted about 23 per cent of the vote on provisional figures.

A spokesman for the NAPF said: "I think that's a shot across the bows as far as shareholders are concerned.

"I am not aware of a company resolution ever having been voted down in this sort of situation but often the size of any shareholder rebellion is a good indication to the company that investors will be looking more closely at them in the future."