US energy giant Occidental Petroleum Corporation has justified Ray Irani’s massive compensation — around $450m in 2006 alone — on the giant leaps the firm’s stock has taken since the Lebanon-born executive joined in 1983. Occidental’s share price has leapt from $9 a share to $48.60 at the end of 2006, and it is now nearly $100. Irani retains close ties with region, and is currently co-chair of the board of trustees for the American University of Beirut. He sits on the Council of Foreign Relations.