Nigeria’s Barkindo exits July as OPEC appoints Kuwaiti new Secretary General

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has appointed Mr Haiham Al-Ghais of Kuwait as Secretary-General of the organisation at a special meeting of the OPEC Conference on Monday.

The meeting came ahead of the exit of the current Secretary-General, Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo of Nigeria whose second tenure will end July 31.

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It was held via videoconference under the Chairmanship of its President, HE Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua, Congo’s Minister of Hydrocarbons and Head of its Delegation.

The members at the 182nd meeting in December 2021 had raised a procedure in line with Article 28 of the OPEC Statute.

In a statement on Monday, the intercontinental agency, representing oil-exporting member countries, said: “The Conference decided by acclamation to appoint Mr Haitham Al-Ghais of Kuwait as Secretary-General of the Organisation, with effect from 1 August 2022, for a period of three years.”

Al-Ghais was Kuwait’s OPEC Governor from 2017 to June 2021 and is serving as the Deputy Managing Director for International Marketing at the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

The conference also appreciated Barkindo for his leadership during his two-term tenure beginning on 1 August 2016 and ending on 31 July 2022.

The members said Barkindo has been instrumental in expanding OPEC’s historical efforts to support sustainable oil market stability through enhanced dialogue and cooperation with many energy stakeholders.

“These efforts are widely credited with helping to stabilize the global oil market since the unprecedented market downturn related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and providing a platform for recovery.”

Barkindois is known internationally for helping to produce the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and has remained a key contributor to the UNFCCC process, including most recently at the 26th Conference of Parties (COP) meeting in Glasgow in October and November 2021.