Kuwait's candidate Haitham Al-Ghais has won the confidence of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries "OPEC" in the position of Secretary-General, succeeding the current Secretary-General, Muhammad Barkindo, whose term of office expires at the end of July 2022.
A vote was taken on the Kuwaiti candidate during the OPEC meeting on Monday, January 3, 2022, after Iraq declined to submit a candidate for it, so that Al-Ghais won by acclamation, and assumed the duties of the position, on the first day of next August, for a period of 3 years.
Iranian Rouhani...the first Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the organization was previously appointed in two ways, the first according to efficiency, and the other by the rule of appointment according to rotation.
Appointment according to competence is for a period of 3 years, renewable once for the same period. As for the appointment, according to rotation, for a period of two years, non-renewable. Appointment according to competence requires the unanimity of all member states.
For both cases, the candidate must be a national of the Member States, not less than 35 years old, and have an educational qualification not less than a university degree in economics, business administration or engineering.
OPEC began with the rule of rotating appointment when it was established in 1960, when the Iranian Dr. Fuad Rouhani took over its general secretariat for the first time.
October 23, 1907: Rouhani was born in Iran.
January 21, 1961 - April 30, 1964: Rouhani assumed the position and is considered the only Iranian he has held since the founding of OPEC until now.
January 30, 2004: Rouhani passed away.
Iraqi Abdul Rahman Al-Bazzaz
February 20, 1913: Abdul Rahman Al-Bazzaz was born in Baghdad.
He completed his primary and preparatory studies in Baghdad.
1935: He graduated from the Faculty of Law in Baghdad.
He was nominated on a study mission to Britain to complete his higher studies, where he joined the Imperial College in London, but he returned to Baghdad when the Second World War was declared before receiving his Ph.D.
After his return, he joined the teaching staff at the Faculty of Law, but he was dismissed from the service after his support for the Rashid Ali Al-Kilani revolution, which he called the May movement (May) 1941, where he was arrested, and he did not return to the civil service until 1945 when he joined the Ministry of Justice in which he took over More than one task, including the position of judge.
May 1, 1964: Al-Bazzaz assumed the position of Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
September 1965: Al-Bazzaz became deputy prime minister and acting minister of foreign affairs and oil, and a few days after his appointment came the failed coup attempt led by Brigadier General Pilot Aref Abdul Razzaq al-Kubaisi.
- September 21, 1965: Al-Bazzaz became prime minister, and during that government he became the acting president of the republic on April 13, 1966 for a period of 3 days following the killing of President Abdel Salam Aref.
After the election of President Abdel Rahman Aref, Al-Bazzaz submitted the resignation of his government to the president, who instructed him to re-form the government again and continued in his position until his resignation in August 1966.
- July 17, 1968: Al-Bazzaz was in Lebanon when the revolution broke out.
1969: He returned to Iraq and was arrested in Qasr Al-Nihaiya, and was subjected to severe physical torture in prison. He was released after suffering a stroke that made him lose the ability to move and speak, so his family traveled with him to London, but the treatment did not work for him.
June 28, 1973: Al-Bazzaz died in Baghdad.
Kuwaiti, Saudi and Qatari
May 1, 1965-December 31, 1966: Kuwaiti Ashraf T. Lutfi assumed the position of Secretary General of the organization.
1967: Saudi Mohammed Saleh Joukhdar assumed the position of OPEC Secretary-General for only one year.
1968: The Venezuelan Francisco R. Parra, Secretary-General of the organization.
1969: Elrich Sanger was handed over to the Indonesian OPEC General Secretariat.
1970: The Libyan position was assumed by Omar El-Badri and was alternately for one year, then the appointment period began for two years at the beginning of the seventies.
1971 - 1972: The Emirati Dr. Nadim Al-Baji (Nadim Pachachi) became the Secretary-General of the organization.
1973-1974: Dr. Abderrahman Khène from Algeria took the position.
1975-1976: The Nigerian, Chief Feyide, became the Secretary-General of the organization.
1977-1978: Qatari Ali Jaidah is appointed as OPEC Secretary-General.
1979-1981: René G. Ortiz from Ecuador took the position.
1981-1983: The Gabonese Marc S. Nan Nguema, Secretary General of the organization.
July 19, 1983-December 31, 1983: Mana Saeed Otaiba, the Emirati, took the position.
January 1, 1984-October 31, 1984: Libyan Kamal Hassan Maghur became OPEC Secretary General.
- October 31, 1984 - December 9, 1985: the Indonesian position was assumed by Dr. Subroto.
January 1, 1986-30 June 1986: Venezuelan Arturo Hernández Grisanti becomes Secretary-General of the organization.
July 1, 1986-30 June 1988: Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman took the Nigerian position.
July 1, 1988-June 30, 1994: The Indonesian Dr. Subroto was Secretary-General of OPEC.
July 1, 1994-December 31, 1994: The Libyan position was assumed by Abdalla Salem El-Badri.
January 1, 1995-December 31, 2000: Nigerian Luqman becomes Secretary-General of OPEC.
January 1, 2001 - June 30, 2002: Ali Rodríguez Araque assumed the Venezuelan position.
July 1, 2002-December 31, 2003: Venezuelan Alvaro Silva Calderón, Secretary General of OPEC.
January 1, 2004-December 31, 2004: Purnomo Yusgiantoro took over the organization's secretariat.
2005: Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah (Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah) becomes the Secretary General of OPEC.
2006: Edmund Maduabebe Daukoru took the Nigerian position.
Libyan Abdullah Al-Badri
May 25, 1940: Al-Badri was born in the city of Qaminas, south of the city of Benghazi.
1966: Work began in the oil sector in the "Eso Libya Company".
1974: Received a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Florida, USA.
1980: He became the Secretary General of the People's Committee of Al-Waha Oil Company.
1983: He became Secretary of the General People's Committee for Oil, which was later renamed (the People's Committee of the National Oil Corporation).
July 1, 1994-December 31, 1994: Secretary-General of OPEC (as a compromise candidate).
He worked in several oil companies and institutions in Libya, including the Brega Oil Marketing Company.
January 1, 2007-July 31, 2016: the Libyan Abdullah Salem Al-Badri, OPEC Secretary General.
Nigerian Barkindo
April 20, 1959: Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo was born.
He graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, the largest university in Nigeria, and the second largest university in Africa after Cairo University in Egypt.
He received his postgraduate studies from Oxford University in America.
He has headed the Nigerian technical delegation to the UN climate negotiations since 1991.
1993-2008: Represented Nigeria in the OPEC Economic Committee.
2009-2010: He led the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
August 1, 2016: Appointed as OPEC Secretary-General for a period of 3 years.
2019: Elected for a second term ending in July 2022.
Kuwaiti Al Ghais
1990: Graduated from the University of San Francisco in California, Department of Political Science.
- 2017: He assumed the position of Governor of Kuwait with "OPEC" and chaired the joint technical committee between the organization and countries outside it, which is responsible for monitoring production and studying the conditions of oil markets according to the production reduction agreement signed between the countries contributing to the "OPEC +" agreement.
June 2021: Appointed as Deputy Director of International Marketing at the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.
He is the son of the former Kuwaiti ambassador to Germany, Faisal Al-Ghais.
He is fluent in several languages, including English, Italian, Portuguese and Chinese, in addition to being fluent in Arabic.
The first to hold the position of KPC office official in China, which enabled him to master the Chinese language.
- He headed the OPEC Internal Audit Committee, and he has various contributions within the organization, as well as at the level of the organization’s board of governors, various committees, special works and cooperation with countries outside “OPEC”.
Prior to his participation and contributions in OPEC, he was included in the global marketing sector of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation in various sales departments, and headed the regional offices of the Corporation in Beijing and London, and was the Director of the Research Department of the Petroleum Corporation and Deputy Managing Director of Global Marketing.