Van de Vijver and former chairman Sir Philip Watts both quit after the oil and gas giant revealed to investors that its proven reserves were 20% less than reported. Shell then revised the figure a further three times before concluding it had overstated its proven reserves by 23% or 4.47 billion barrels.
The company said the payout was based on his 25 years service with the group and had it not been for this termination, the otherwise remaining years of service until normal retirement date.
Van de Vijver will pick up half of his severance payment immediately, with the remainder payable in stages on condition he co-operates with reviews into the crisis.
Additionally he holds 115,000 unexercised share options and Shell said that Van der Vijver, at 48 years of age, had a legal right to a deferred pension of $664,755 per year from June 2015, when he reaches retirement age.
Van de Vijver, along with Watts, was reprimanded by an independent review into the reserves fiasco, however he protests his innocence, saying he acted to improve Shell's reporting of its reserves from when he took his last job in 2001.
It has been reported that in an angry email to Watts last November he said he was "sick and tired" of "lying" about the extent of the reserves and downward revisions because of "far too aggressive/ optimistic bookings".
