Hess CEO clears $42 mln from stock, options in '07

NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - Hess Corp (HES.N) Chief Executive John Hess pulled in nearly $42 million from exercising stock options and awards in 2007, adding to a pay package worth more than $14 million for the year.

Hess, 53, made about $34.5 million from exercising 750,000 previously awarded stock options plus $7.2 million from stock awards that vested during the year, the oil producer and refiner said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Those benefits came on top of a compensation package that included $1.4 million of salary, a $1.2 million bonus, $2.5 million of incentive awards and $9.1 million of stock and option awards. That package was roughly the same as his 2006 package.

Earnings at Hess fell about 4.6 percent to $1.83 billion in 2007 as weakened refining margins offset profits from record oil prices.

The company's shares more than doubled over the course of the year. (Reporting by Michael Erman, Editing by Toni Reinhold)