WORLD
Barkindo finally assumes office as OPEC secretary-general
Baku, August 1 AZERTAC
Nigeria’s Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo has just assumed office as secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) at the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria.
Barkindo was officially appointed to the post for a three-year term at OPEC’s 169th meeting of the conference on June 2, 2016 in Vienna.
He replaces outgoing secretary general Abdalla Salem El-Badri who has led the Organization since 1 January 2007.
According to the OPEC secretariat, Barkindo, an accomplished oil technocrat and veteran of OPEC, “brings with him a wealth of experience in the oil and gas industry, both in Nigeria and internationally”.
From 2009 to 2010, he was group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Previous to that, he served as deputy managing director of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), a joint venture between NNPC, Shell, Total and Eni.
He has also helped 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 since 1991.
He is the longest serving member of the country’s delegation to the UNFCCC. He also served as chairman of the OPEC Task Force of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development for the 15th session.
He added a master’s degree in business administration from Southeastern University in Washington, DC.
He is also a holder of an honorable doctorate degree in Science from Modibbo Adama, Federal University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria.
Barkindo is a fellow member of various international petroleum institutions such as the Institute of Petroleum, London.