At the just concluded 169th Meeting of the Conference of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), held in Vienna, Austria, on Thursday, 2nd June 2016, it was announced that Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, from Nigeria has been appointed as the Secretary-General of the Organisation. His appointment is effective from the 1st of August 2016 and should last for a period of three years.

Barkindo will replace Libya’s Abdalla Salem el-Badri who has been OPEC’s Secretary-General for over nine years. El-Badri was meant to finish his tenure at the end of 2012, but it was extended due to the fact that member countries of the organisation were unable to reach a consensus on his replacement.

Barkindo’s appointment does not come as a surprise to people familiar with the organisation as they already predicted that Barkindo could be the next Secretary-General due to his years of experience and knowledge in the industry.

Here is what you didn’t know about Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo

• Barkindo started his career as a member of the Nigerian delegation to OPEC in 1986 when the late Dr. Rilwanu Lukman was Minister of Petroleum Resources (People called him Rilwanu Lukman’s right-hand man).
• He was the National Representative for OPEC between 1993 and 2008.
• Barkindo was the Deputy Managing Director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), a joint venture between NNPC, Shell Gas BV, Total and Eni between 1993 and 2008.
• He served as the acting Secretary General of OPEC in 2006 after Edmund Dakouru.
• Barkindo was the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation from 2009 to 2010.
• He also served as Head of the NNPC’s London office, Managing Director of NNPC’s oil and gas trading division, NNPC Group Executive Director, Managing Director Hyson/Carlson in Bermuda Group General Manager, Corporate Investments, President, Duke Oil Inc and President, NAPOIL Inc.

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