Follow Us on Google
By Adewale Sanyaolu
10 years after serving in Acting capacity, luck finally smiled on a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo as he was appointed the Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC).
Barkindo is bringing on board a 23 year career experience garnered in Nigeria’s state oil corporation-NNPC and the oil and gas industry in general.He is expected to occupy the position for three years in the first instance with effect from August 1, 2016.
Expectations from stakeholders beyond Barkindo’s rich credentials which saw him serving for 15 years on the OPEC Economic Commission Board while also chairing the strategic Production Quota Committee of OPEC, the stake are high for the scribe, especially at this period when the global oil industry is confronted with a myriad of challenges with implications for cost cutting/saving measures on the part of operators and oil producing countries. On his expectations from the new scribe, Head of Energy Research, Ecobank Group, Mr. Dolapo Oni, said, though Barkindo’s role would be more at the international level, rather than local, he believed that such roles it well articulated would trickle down to more benefits for OPEC member countries, including Nigeria.
