Abuja, June 6 (BNA) The President of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation announced today, Wednesday, the death of the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Muhammad Barkindo.
Reuters reported that Barkindo, 63, was scheduled to step down at the end of this month after six years in the top position in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
“We have lost our respected Dr. Muhammed Sanusi Barkindo,” NNPC CEO Melle Kyari wrote on Twitter, adding that he passed away late Tuesday.
Kyari added that the death is “a great loss to his immediate family, the National Petroleum Council, our country Nigeria, OPEC and the global energy community.”
Kyari said Barkindo died hours after he met Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and delivered the keynote address at an energy summit in Abuja.
Barkindo said the oil and gas industry was “under siege” due to years of underinvestment and that allowing oil to be traded from Iran and Venezuela could help address supply shortages in the current market.
Barkindo’s career in the oil industry began in Nigeria in the early 1980s. He served in various positions in the NNPC and represented Nigeria on the Council of the OPEC Economic Committee.
He served as Acting Secretary General of OPEC in 2006 before returning to the position 10 years later and leading the organization through a turbulent period in the oil market, including steering it toward greater cooperation with non-OPEC oil producers.
The council recently announced that after leaving OPEC, Barkindo was set to join the US think tank at the Atlantic Council’s Center for Global Energy as a distinguished fellow.
MI