BG Group axes executives' bonuses Although Mr Chapman and his colleagues qualified for the payouts, they decided that a cash bonus would be "inappropriate" given the downgrade the company made to output forecasts and the share price fall in the final quarter of the year, BG said in its annual report released on Thursday. BG's new chief executive Chris Finlayson, who took over from Mr Chapman last year - earlier than expected due to Mr Chapman's illness and after a flurry of bad news for the company - will get a base salary of £975,000 this year, plus cash in lieu of a pension at 30pc of base salary. His annual incentive scheme bonus for 2013 will have a target of 100pc of base salary, with a maximum of 200pc, plus share awards under the company's long-term incentive plan. Mr Finlayson's base salary is lower than Mr Chapman's, who was paid £1.23m in 2012. Mr Chapman's last pay as CEO was up 3.4pc from 2011, but his total cash take-home will be dramatically lower, given that he also received a £1.65m bonus in 2011 and will not get one for last year. Mr Chapman, one of the longest-serving chief executives in the industry, with 12 years at the helm, will continue to draw his salary and other elements of his BG pay package until he retires completely in June this year. In February this year, BG abandoned its ambitions to become a 1m barrel-a-day oil and gas producer by 2015, and reported a 29pc drop in quarterly net profit after taking stock of a series of setbacks that included project delays and a scaling back in US shale gas activities. £975,000 The base annual salary of Chris Finlayson, BG's new chief executive. His predecessor, Frank Chapman, received £1.23m in 2012