One hundred billion dollars; it is as big as the economy of Slovakia or Sri Lanka and almost matches New Zealand.

That is roughly the amount of money that BP has paid to its shareholders over the decade during which Lord Browne of Madingley has been the oil company’s chief executive.

The flow of cash into pension fund and insurance company coffers since 1996, the year in which John Browne was appointed chief executive, has reached $96 billion, The Times has learnt.

The man who paid out this sum will today be saying farewell to his shareholders at a conference centre in London’s Docklands. Lord Browne is leaving a year ahead of schedule, his departure hastened by the damning comments of US regulators over BP’s failure to prevent the fatal accident at its Texas City refinery.

His audience of fans and critics will focus on BP’s grand achievements, the mergers and corporate derring-do of the past decade, as well as the disasters and disappointments of the past two years. For BP’s investors, the Browne legacy will be encapsulated in the extraordinary cash avalanche that flowed from the company.

Ordinary dividends accumulated since 1996 total $52.6 billion. Since 2000, the company has supplemented the dividend with share buybacks, returning the surplus cash earned from rising oil prices.

The repurchase and cancellation of more than four billion shares has returned a further $43.3 billion to investors, cash that has been recycled into other investments and which, to a large extent, fuelled the pension fund flight from equities into bonds.

According to Stephen Yeo, of Watson Wyatt, the pension consultants, the ordinary dividend is particularly valuable because it is reliable. Between 1999 and 2006, BP’s ordinary dividend increased at almost twice the rate of US dollar inflation. “Pension funds have been steady sellers of shares and buyers of bonds because they want constancy of income. One could make the case that a share like BP is as good as a bond,” he said.

More of a financier than an oilman, Lord Browne’s biggest fans were in the City, where his keenly timed takeovers of the American oil companies Amoco and Atlantic Richfield transformed BP from has-been share to must-have.

The takeovers opened the taps of BP’s cashflow as the company shed billions of dollars in duplicated costs and corporate featherbedding.

History may judge that BP’s skill at running complex industrial processes was less acute than its talent for riding financial markets. While investors will celebrate his success, they may reflect that even Lord Browne is not enough for a company as large as BP.

Diary dates

1995 John Browne becomes chief executive, when BP has a market capitalisation of £20 billion. BP’s market capitalisation is now £106.8 billion

1998-2000 BP spends $83.8 billion buying Amoco and Atlantic Richfield (Arco)

2003 Merges its Russian assets with AAR to form TNK-BP

2005 Has turnover of $262 billion and employs 96,200 people

2005 The Texas City in the United States explosion kills 15 people

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