Mohammed Barkindo, Secretary General of OPEC, dies

The secretary general of the

Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Nigerian

, died last night at the

, reported the managing director of the

(NNPC), Mele Kyari, on his Twitter account.

"We have lost our esteemed Dr.

. He passed away around 11pm last night, July 5, 2022," Kyari wrote in her tweet.

"It is certainly a great loss for his immediate family, the NNPC, our country

,

and the global energy community. Burial arrangements will be announced shortly," his brief statement concludes.

On the same social network,

later confirmed the unexpected death of the organization's "most beloved leader of the secretariat."

"This tragedy is a shock to the

family, " adds the organization, while expressing "pain and deep gratitude" to the secretary general, and condolences to his family and his country.

The sudden death of

, whose second and last term at the head of OPEC was to expire on the 31st, was completely unexpected because just yesterday, before his imminent return to Nigeria, he was received by the president of that country,

, who offered a welcome gala in his honor.

In his presence at the "State House" (seat of the Nigerian presidency), Buhari "expressed on Tuesday in Abuja the nation's gratitude" to

, "describing him as a worthy ambassador of the country,"

confirmed in a statement .

dated the day before, July 5, that is, before the death was known.

Barkindo

, for his part, referred to OPEC's alliance with

,

,

and other independent oil-producing countries, known as "OPEC+" and forged in 2016 under his mandate to deal with "a recession in the sector" oil.

"It was very obvious to me that this was beyond what

could tackle on its own. We needed the support of other leading oil producers in the world,"

recalled .

"Having survived the major turmoil of 2016 and 2020,

expressed confidence that the worst is over and the future looks very bright for the organization," the statement added.

Born in 1959 in Yola (Nigeria), he graduated in Political Science from the Ahmadu Bello University of Zaria (Nigeria) in 1981 and in Petroleum Economics from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) in 1988.

In addition, before gaining extensive experience in the oil industry in his country, he obtained a Master of Business Administration (MAB) from the University of Washington (United States).

After holding various positions in the Nigerian Government, he began working for the NNCP in 1992, whose directorship he held between 2009 and 2010. At the same time, he was governor of

before

and acting secretary general of the organization in 2006.

On August 1, 2016, he assumed the general secretariat of the Vienna-based organization for the first time, elected by consensus by all member countries, who reappointed him for a second term three years later.

According to the statutes of the organization, a person can only remain for two terms of three years in the highest position of the organization that today has thirteen member countries.

Since Barkindo's second and last term was due to expire on the 31st of this month, OPEC ministers have already appointed his replacement, the Kuwaiti

.

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