Credit…Ali Haider/EPA, via Shutterstock
A leading figure in the international oil industry, Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, OPEC’s secretary general, died on Tuesday in his native Nigeria, the oil producer group said.
No cause of death was given. Mr Barkindo, 63, had kept a busy schedule on Tuesday, making a speech in a conference and meeting with the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Barkindo took over as head of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2016, during a turbulent period following the collapse of oil prices.
The role of an OPEC secretary general is not to set policy but to fulfill the wishes of the organization’s members, who are de facto led by Saudi Arabia. He had a moderating influence on OPEC and helped make the group, whose workings are often mysterious to outsiders, better known to a wider audience, including in the United States.
“Barkindo created a positive image of OPEC,” Ibrahim AlMuhanna, a former Saudi oil official, wrote in “Oil Leaders,” a recent book.
Mr. Barkindo had planned to leave his post at the end of July. In January, OPEC declined to give him a third term and chose Haitham Al-Ghais, a veteran oil official from Kuwait, as his successor.
There is no indication that the change in leadership will influence how much oil OPEC produces.
Leading OPEC can be a tricky job that requires standing up to officials with big egos and countries with competing interests, especially Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are often at odds over oil and other issues.
“It was great diplomatically,” said Amrita Sen, head of oil at Energy Aspects, a research firm. “He did it with great gusto.”
Mr. Barkindo came to head OPEC after a long career as an industry official and executive, including a brief stint as head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
He was often credited with helping to revive and strengthen OPEC when it was on the defensive due to increased US oil production.
In a statement On Wednesday, OPEC said that Mr. Barkindo had “played a key role” in the formation of the broader group called OPEC Plus, which includes Russia, in 2016. OPEC also said Mr. Barkindo had helped the group navigate major downturns, including the oil price crash in 2015-16 and during the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
Bringing Russia into decision-making about oil production was probably the most important change that occurred under Barkindo’s leadership. Over the past five years, Riyadh and Moscow have often been in charge of production, with most OPEC members required to participate.
Having Russia as an ally strengthened OPEC’s influence in its efforts to manage markets, but Riyadh now has a problem deciding whether Moscow should continue as co-leader of OPEC Plus. Russian production is being slowed by sanctions over the war in Ukraine, and it is no longer clear that Saudi Arabia and Russia share interests to the extent they did.
For example, the Saudis will likely want to send more oil to Europe to replace supplies from Russia as the European embargo tightens, while Moscow may prefer Europe to feel the strain of measures it is taking to punish the Kremlin for the war in Ukraine.
In his latest speech at a conference on oil in Nigeria, Mr. Barkindo warned that the oil industry, in which he had built his career, faced major challenges, including volatile commodity prices due to geopolitics and pressures to cut oil and gas. consumption to mitigate climate change.
Mr. Barkindo suggested it was unfair to blame the oil industry and oil-producing countries for today’s high prices. He said it was unrealistic to expect an instant recovery from the ravages of the pandemic that helped reduce investment in the industry.
“You can’t turn on a faucet and solve the world’s oil needs overnight,” he said.
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