Outgoing OPEC Secretary General, Nigerian Mohammed Barkindo, November 30, 2016 in Vienna (AFP/Archives/JOE KLAMAR)
Nigerian Mohammed Barkindo, outgoing secretary general of OPEC, died on Tuesday evening at the age of 63, a sudden death that left the oil cartel in shock amid turmoil in the markets.
It was under his leadership that the organization of 13 crude exporting countries joined with ten other members, including Russia, in a historic OPEC+ agreement signed in 2016 aimed at regulating prices.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian National Oil Company (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has lamented “a great loss” when announcing his death. The funeral is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in his hometown of Yola in eastern Nigeria.
The news came hours after a meeting in Abuja with President Muhammadu Buhari, who had paid tribute to the “brilliant work” of Mohammed Barkindo at OPEC, where “he managed to navigate through rough waters”.
The latter had then appeared full of energy and without apparent signs of illness.
– “A shock” –
“This tragedy is a shock for the OPEC family,” reacted the Vienna-based organization, welcoming in a press release an “emblematic” and “visionary” leader.
Born on April 20, 1959, Mohammed Barkindo studied political science supplemented by training in Oxford and the United States. From 1992, he held various positions within the NNPC, of which he took the helm in 2009.
Appointed Nigeria’s delegate to OPEC in 1986, he became its secretary general in 2016. “The honor of a lifetime”, confided Tuesday, in his last speech, the one who was coming to the end of his second term.
Although this title did not give him executive power, he was the public figure of the organization, sometimes acting as a diplomat to facilitate discussions between countries with divergent interests.
The only one to speak to the journalists massed in front of OPEC headquarters in Vienna after the bitter failure of negotiations at the very start of the Covid-19 pandemic, he also made his voice heard in his speeches given in introduction to cartel meetings.
Personality with a good face and an eternal Mao collar, he liked to quote Shakespeare, Nelson Mandela, Leopold Sedar Senghor, Tolstoy, or even Chinese proverbs according to his mood.
– “Friend” of Russia –
In a message to the Nigerian president, Moscow noted his “personal” and “particularly important” contribution to the OPEC+ group. Russia “will remember Mohammed Barkindo as a” true friend of our country, “responded President Vladimir Putin.
Iraq also sent its condolences, through its Oil Minister, Ihsan Ismail, who spoke of his constant desire to “strengthen the role of OPEC in stabilizing world markets”.
The alliance formed with Russia had notably enabled producers to drastically limit their extractions of black gold in the face of the collapse in demand linked to the health crisis.
An effort that pushed prices up on the market in the spring of 2020.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, which caused a surge in prices, OPEC+ has struggled to pump more to curb this increase and is under pressure from consumer countries, in particular the United States.
“Mr Barkindo’s death is unlikely to have a long-term impact, but in the short term it may increase uncertainty and fuel price volatility,” said Swissquote analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya. interviewed by AFP.
And to recall its key role in the “unity” of OPEC +, preserved despite the jolts and divisions.
Stephen Innes, at Spi Asset Management, however, puts the impact into perspective: “He was a very important figure and a stabilizing force behind OPEC, however his death should not change its direction”, he underlines.
His successor Haitham Al-Ghais, a veteran Kuwaiti in the industry who will take office in early August, should maintain “the status quo”, judges the expert, “given the close ties between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia”. mainstay of the cartel.
© 2022 AFP
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