Hess UK Pension Plan - PRAG

Overview from the
Trustees
continued
The Plan’s Funded Status
Following the actuarial valuation at
January 2009, we agreed with the
Company a funding schedule that is
aimed to have the Plan fully funded, on
the Scheme Funding basis, by the start
of 2014. Our latest Summary Funding
Statement with the results of the
January 2010 funding review is on
pages 14 and 15 of this report.
Company Covenant
We believe that the Plan is supported
by a strong Company covenant, which
in summary means that the Company
can support the level of funding
needed to provide the benefits. The
Company’s commitment to funding
the Plan properly is backed up by the
parent company guarantee provided
by Hess Corporation. As a standing
agenda item at each Trustees’
Meeting, we review up to date
financial assessments of Hess
Corporation’s financial performance
and outlook.
Inflation and Pension Increases
All pensions in payment are reviewed
annually but, because there was no rise
in inflation over the year to September
2009, no statutory increases were
made to pensions at January 2010.
Further, the Company confirmed that
it would not agree to provide any noncontractual
increases on that date.
Looking forward, the Government has
announced that the Consumer Prices
Index (“CPI”), rather than the RPI, will be
used for statutory increases in company
pension schemes such as the Plan.
Plan Governance
We have kept all the Plan’s operations
under close review through detailed
quarterly reports from our accountant,
actuary, administrator, and investment
consultant. In addition, our Investment
Sub-Committee has been meeting
monthly to review investment
performance, assess proposed
changes to the portfolio and deal
with routine operational matters.
Trustee Board
Benj Sykes resigned as a Trustee at the
end of 2010. Benj had been the longest
serving Trustee and we thank him for
his substantial contribution to the work
of the Trustees over the years. The
Company has appointed Barbara Wilton
to become a Trustee with effect from
1 December 2010.
Audited Accounts
You should note that this report
contains only an extract from the
audited statutory accounts for 2009
in which the auditor’s opinions on
the financial statements and on the
summary of contributions were
unqualified. Our formal report
containing the Plan’s full audited
accounts and other technical
details is available on request to:
Trustees of the Hess UK Pension Plan,
c/o Hess Services UK Limited,
The Adelphi Building,
1-11 John Adam Street,
London WC2N 6AG
or by email to:
PensionPlan@hess.com
4 Trustees’ Report 2010