Phillips Stockholders Nix Raises

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. -- While Lee Raymond, head of Exxon Mobil Corp., and Sir John Browne, CEO of BP plc, were handsomely compensated for guiding their companies through blockbuster acquisitions, stockholders of Phillips Petroleum Co. voted against increasing the salaries of CEO Jim Mulva and other officers.

They also rejected a request for a report on the potential environmental damage that would result from oil and gas drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the Associated Press reported.

Shareholders of Phillips also selected 10 directors and retained Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent auditor for fiscal 2002. Ernst & Young has been Phillips' auditor since 1949.

Phillips and Houston-based Conoco Inc. announced in November that the two oil companies would merge. The deal is expected to be completed by the second half of this year.

The new company, to be known as ConocoPhillips, will be the nation's third-largest oil and gas company in terms of production and the sixth-largest investor-owned oil company worldwide.
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