On Sunday, 26th of February 2017, the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr Mohammed Barkindo, arrived Nigeria on a four-day visit. This is part of his member country consultative visit and the first time he is visiting Nigeria after he became the Secretary General of the organisation. He is currently participating in the three-day 16th Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (NOG) in Abuja, which started on Monday. He will also be meeting with the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, and other stakeholders, to discuss market dynamics in the sector.

During Barkindo’s  visit to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu on Monday, he spoke about OPEC, and several issues that have affected the organisation and its members. Below are five things that he spoke about:

How much the industry has lost due to fall in oil price

“Globally, this industry has lost nearly one trillion dollars in terms of deferred projects, outright cancellation of projects across the supply chain – upstream, midstream and downstream,” Barkindo said.

What needs to be done

“This (crisis) is the greatest threat that is facing future supply. We need consistent investment in order not only to maintain current production, but to take care of reserves that we produce as well as to secure the security of future supply,” said Barkindo.

The joint decision taken under the Declaration of Cooperation

“With the joint decision we took under the Declaration of Cooperation on the 10th of December, cumulatively, we from OPEC withdrew about 1.2 million barrels per day, while the 11 non-OPEC withdrew nearly 600,000 bpd, altogether about 1.8 million bpd has been cut,” Barinkido said.

“And for the first month since January (when the decision took effect), I have just brought my report, our compliance level is over 90 per cent. Even within OPEC, we have never had 90 percent. This is the first time. So, we remain optimistic that the worst is over for this cycle,” he said.

Plans for the oil sector

“Those three historic decisions – the Algiers Accord, the Vienna Agreement of November 13, and the Declaration of Cooperation on December 10 in Vienna – have changed the energy landscape and have turned a historic page in oil,” he noted.

“We are on the course of turning this industry out of the worse recession that we have entered to restore stability to the market, on a sustainable basis that will allow investment to come back on a continuous basis,” he stated.

New countries are requesting to join OPEC

Barkindo also announced that as a result of the positive impact of OPEC in the effort to resolve the global crisis, new requests have been received from countries wishing to join the group. This is in order to promote their common interest. According to Barinkido, one of such new requests was Equatorial Guinea. They are an important producer in the Gulf of Guinea and have already applied formally to join OPEC.

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