OPEC hails late Barkindo, set to announce Kuwaiti as secretary general

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has hailed its late Secretary-General, Dr Mohammed Barkindo, who died late Tuesday night.

Barkindo died aged 63 in Nigeria hours after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja and before then, after delivering the Chairman keynote address at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference (NOG) in the nation’s capital city, Tuesday.

Reacting to the death of Barkindo, OPEC while hailing the late Nigerian, disclosed that Mr Haitham Al-Ghais, a veteran of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), will be announced as the organisation’s Secretary-General.

In a tribute to Barkindo on his contributions to the global energy industry, OPEC said the late Nigerian was instrumental in expanding the organisation’s historical efforts to support sustainable oil market stability.

“This was through enhanced dialogue and cooperation with many energy stakeholders, including the landmark Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) since its inception in December 2016.

“These efforts are widely credited with helping to stabilise the global oil market since the unprecedented market downturn related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and providing a platform for recovery, “OPEC said in the statement posted on its website.

The statement noted that before being appointed the Secretary-General, Barkindo held a number of key roles at OPEC between 1986 and 2010, including as acting Secretary-General in 2006.

“He is known internationally for helping to produce the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Kyoto protocol as the leader of Nigeria’s technical delegation to the UN negotiations in 1991.

“He has remained a key contributor to the UNFCCC process, including most recently at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP) meeting in Glasgow in October and November 2021,” it said.

Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mr Mele Kyari had confirmed the death of Barkindo in a statement posted on his official Twitter handle (@MKKyari), at 4.32am Wednesday.

TheNNPC GMD wrote:”We lost our esteemed Dr Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo. He died at about 11pm yesterday 5th July 2022.

“Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community. Burial arrangements will be announced shortly,”

Though the cause of his death was not disclosed in the tweet, Barkindo was received at the State House Tuesday night by President Muhammadu Buhari, who lauded the outgoing OPEC secretary general’s six-year tenure and described the deceased as ‘a worthy ambassador of Nigeria.’

Born on April 20, 1959 in Yola, Adamawa, Barkindo served as the Secretary General of OPEC since August 1, 2016 and would have bowed out on July 31, 2022 following the completion of his tenure.

He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, in 1981 and Masters of Business Administration degree from Washington University in 1991.

Prior to MBA, in 1988 he earned a Post-Graduate Diploma in Petroleum Economics from Oxford University.

Also, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Federal University of Technology, Yola.

Barkindo previously served as the acting Secretary-General in 2006 and represented Nigeria on OPEC’s Economic Commission Board from 1993 to 2008.

He also led the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation during 2009 to 2010 and headed Nigeria’s technical delegation to UN climate negotiations since 1991.