Cabot Oil & Gas CEO's Pay Jumps 33 Percent In 2008

By ERNEST SCHEYDER

NEW YORK (AP) — The chairman, president and chief executive of Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. received compensation valued at $5 million in 2008, a 33 percent increase from the previous year, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures disclosed in a regulatory filing.

The Houston-based company paid Dan O. Dinges $567,500 in base salary, up 8.1 percent from the previous year, and a $776,250 performance-based cash bonus, up 17 percent year over year.

Additionally, Cabot awarded Dinges $33,657 in other compensation, which included a $15,500 payment to a 401(k) plan, as well as club dues, life insurance and an annual physical.

The company did not provide exact amounts for those items in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The increase in total compensation was partly due to a 42 percent jump in stock-based compensation to $3.7 million when shares were issued last February. That stock is now worth less due to a drop in the share price.

The Associated Press' calculations of total compensation include salary, bonus, performance-related incentives, perks, any above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. They may vary from totals listed in the summary compensation table in the company's proxy filed with the SEC.