Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Tuesday revealed that it made a $7.6 million severance payment to the ex-head of its gas and power division previous year, outlining her as the highest-earning executive at the Anglo-Dutch oil major in 2009.

Linda Cook resigned as an Executive Director of the company on June 1, following Peter Voser taking over as Chief Executive.

The company's annual report Tuesday uncovered that Cook also earned a base salary of $1.4 million apart from severance payment, along with a performance bonus of $1.54 million.

This way his total earnings touched $9.1 million after addition of other benefits, outpacing CEO Voser.

Voser's earnings, which include his salary and performance bonus, reportedly rose by 22% in 2009 touching $4.4 million after he took over as the chief executive in July 2009. However, his baseline salary in 2009 was $1.7 million, nearly 35% lower than his predecessor, Jeroen van der Veer's salary in 2008.

Voser net salary touched $3.6 million in 2008 as the company's Chief Financial Officer.

Voser's reduced pay comes after Shell proposed in February introduced new norms related to pay packages for executive directors.