LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - The shareholder rebellionagainst BP's remuneration policy shrank this year, afterthe oil major made progress in untangling its Russianinvestments and reducing uncertainty over oil spill liabilities.
Investors representing just 5.88 percent of shares votedagainst its 2012 remuneration report at a meeting in London onThursday - almost half the 11.79 percent that rejected thereport the previous year.
Chief Executive Bob Dudley's pay fell by a fifth last yearbecause of performance measures set over a three-year periodthat began in 2010, the year of its disastrous Gulf of Mexicooil spill.
Standard Life Investments (SLI), one of BP's largestshareholders with 1.3 percent, attacked the company's currentpay policy for its potential to reward bosses for meetingunchallenging targets.
Three years on from the oil spill, and a month aftercompleting a landmark deal in Russia which is enabling BP toreturn $8 billion to shareholders, SLI's criticism prompted loudapplause in the meeting but received less support than lastyear.
While BP remains in court in the United States over thespill, it has already made some partial settlements. Investors,buoyed by the recent sale of its stake in its Russian ventureTNK-BP, have started to price in an end to the spillsaga.
SLI has voted against BP's executive pay in seven of thelast eight years and criticised its remuneration policy forbeing too complicated.
"We want to see the remuneration committee raise its gameand make significant improvements to address our concerns,"SLI's global head of governance and stewardship Guy Jubb said.
A 5.88 percent vote against executive pay is small by thestandards of 2012 when a large number of investors in Britishcompanies registered their disapproval during annual meetings,an episode dubbed the 'shareholder spring'.
BP, accustomed to criticism from environmental groups, alsoheard from a number of individuals and groups campaigningagainst its involvement in Canada's tar sands.