Cairn boss in line for £20m

CAIRN Energy boss Bill Gammell will be able to cement his position as Scotland's very own JR Ewing on news that his stake in the oil explorer he founded 25 years ago could top £20m.

Gammell, the former Scottish rugby international, has seen the value of his holding go up in line with its phenomenal share price increase in the last four years - from 153p in 2001 to 1150p.

His shares in Cairn are worth £12.6m and he could earn an extra £7.6m in long-term share awards. The news comes just a year after he and three fellow directors shared £3.6m by exercising share options.

And his package could have been considerably more rewarding if Cairn's shares had not slipped back from a peak of 1572p last year, a fall that led to it being booted out of the FTSE 100 in March.

Gammell, 52, who counts George W Bush as a friend, earned £544,680 in 2004 - slightly down on 2003 as he ploughed £100,000 of his bonus into his pension.

He is one of five directors with long-term share awards worth £27m between them. The string of options and awards, detailed in Cairn's 2004 annual report, are so lucrative as they are priced from as low as 78p a share.

Cairn's discoveries in Rajasthan, India have transformed its fortunes and lifted its market value to £1.85bn.