Royal Dutch/Shell's disgraced former chairman, Phil Watts, will get a one million pound ($1.8 million) payoff, the oil giant said on Friday, but it refused to rule out legal action against him.
Watts will get the payment - equivalent to full pay up to his retirement due date of June 2005 - despite being sacked for his part in a scandal involving a massive overstatement of the Anglo-Dutch firm's oil and gas reserves.
Revelations earlier this year that Shell's oil and gas reserve bookings were over-optimistic by more than 20 percent shocked investors and rattled the entire energy sector.
Three top executives, including Watts, lost their jobs. A Shell spokesman made clear that the decision to pay off Watts did not preclude future legal action against the former chairman.
"We cannot speculate on the outcome and implications of external investigations," the spokesman said. He was referring to probes that are under way by regulators, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice.
Watts' lawyer was not available for comment.
Shell said it had yet to decide on severance terms for another fired executive, exploration and production chief Walter van de Vijver.
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