Nigeria’s Barkindo is OPEC secretary-general

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has appointed Mohammed Barkindo, a former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as its next secretary-general.

The appointment was announced at OPEC’s meeting in Vienna, capital of Austria, on Thursday.

Barkindo is not new to the position, as in 2006, he served as the acting secretary general and even represented Nigeria at the organisation.

He led the NNPC from 2009 to 2010 and had been nominated for the position by the federal government.

The 13-member oil cartel had been looking for a successor to Abdalla El-Badri from Libya after he had served out a full term in 2013.

Abdalla was elected as acting secretary general in December with a tenure expiration of July because OPEC members had failed to come to a required consensus as regards appointing a new secretary general.

But on Thursday, Barkindo, whose appointment was already speculated especially because of his experience and knowledge of the industry, was eventually appointed.