Kosmos CEO salary hits $57M

The Chief Executive Officer of Kosmos Energy, Brian Maxted is among the highest paid Chief Executive Officers in Texas, a state in the United States of America.

Longnecker & Associates, a Houston-based consulting firm that compiled compensation data of Chief Executive Officers in the area puts Mr Maxted’s annual salary for 2012 at $57.55 million.

Kosmos Energy is one of the Jubilee Oilfield partners. The oil company currently holds an 18 percent interest in the Deep-water Tano Block offshore Ghana.

Brad Whitmarsh, Vice President of investor relations for Kosmos told the consulting firm that Mr Maxted’s compensation was approved by company shareholders.

He further explained that 2011 was a unique year for Kosmos, highlighted by its transition from an eight-year-old private company to a public one with an initial public offering in May.

Kosmos made a major crude oil discovery off the coast of Ghana in 2007 and had its first crude oil sales in 2011, resulting in $666.9 million in revenue. Whitmarsh characterized the pay package as the recognition of an “exceptional milestone in our history.”

“The compensation package was a long-term award, vesting over multiple years. It aligns management interest with the interest of shareholders,” Whitmarsh said.

Brian F. Maxted is a leading oil and gas explorationist with an impressive record of discoveries and worldwide experience in the upstream petroleum business.

In his prior role as Kosmos chief operating officer, Maxted directed the company’s exploration-led strategy, which led to the discovery of the Jubilee Field offshore Ghana, one of West Africa’s most important finds in the last decade.

Before co-founding Kosmos in 2003, he was senior vice president of exploration for Triton Energy, where he led a series of discoveries offshore Equatorial Guinea.

He also managed the discovery of several large gas/condensate fields by Carigali-Triton Operating Company in the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area and the discovery and confirmation of Colombia’s giant Cusiana and Cupiagua oil fields.

Following the sale of Triton to Amerada Hess Corporation (now Hess Corporation), Maxted oversaw continued Hess exploration success in Equatorial Guinea as senior vice president of global exploration and new ventures.

He also led the company’s Gulf of Mexico deepwater strategy. Prior to its recent acquisition, Maxted was a member of the board of directors of Broad Oak Energy, a company that focuses on improving recovery from mature U.S. onshore oil-and-gas producing regions.

He holds a master’s degree in organic geochemistry and petrology from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and a bachelor of science in geology from the University of Sheffield.