Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO's total compensation rose about 20 percent in 2011, and the company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it saw no reason to change its pay practices, as had been urged by some investors last year.
Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, who heads the world's largest publicly traded oil company, received $34.9 million in total compensation, up from $29 million in 2010, data in the company's annual proxy statement show.
Tillerson's pay package included stock awards valued at $17.9 million and bonus and salary totaling $6.8 million.
Exxon's board of directors base their compensation decisions on long-term financial targets, among other factors.
Last year, proxy firm ISS criticized Exxon's compensation practices, and argued that the company's shareholder returns did not justify executives' pay packages. Returns, ISS said, were inflated by higher crude oil prices..
In this latest proxy statement, Exxon said that it had spoken with a number of shareholders about its compensation practices following a non binding "say on pay" proposal that won approval with 67 percent of shareholder votes.
"We believe that applying a short-term, formula-based approach to ExxonMobil's compensation program would undermine the uniquely long-term requirements of our proven business strategy," the company said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In this year's proxy statement, Exxon used a chart to illustrate that its shareholder returns had outperformed its peers and the Standard & Poor's 500 over a 20 year period.
Exxon said its conversations with shareholders included consideration of the use of formula-based pay tied to shorter-term metrics such as one- and three-year total shareholder returns, a practice that ISS urged the oil company to adopt.
Shareholder proposals on the proxy related to hydraulic fracturing, greenhouse gas emissions and splitting the job of chairman and chief executive officer.
Exxon's annual meeting is due to be held on May 30.
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