OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo dies at age 63

Mohammad Barkindo, a Nigerian politician and secretary-general of oil producer group OPEC, died at the age of 63, just times ahead of he was set to finish his term at the corporation.

The head of Nigeria’s Countrywide Petroleum Corp., Mele Kyari, introduced the news in a tweet Wednesday, which was later confirmed by OPEC.

“We missing our esteemed Dr Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo,” a tweet early Wednesday morning from his confirmed Twitter cope with read through.

“He died at about 11pm yesterday 5th July 2022. Certainly a great reduction to his fast family members, the NNPC, our place Nigeria, the OPEC and the worldwide vitality local community. Burial arrangements will be declared soon.”

The induce of dying has not been introduced.

Barkindo’s sudden demise came as a shock to associates of the oil and gas entire world, lots of of whom describe him as a big in the marketplace. 

His career spanned about 4 a long time and bundled work at Nigeria’s National Petroleum Corp.,  Duke Oil, Nigeria’s International Ministry and Vitality Ministry, as perfectly as OPEC.

Considering that getting the helm as secretary-standard of OPEC in 2016, Barkindo oversaw tumultuous periods for the oil producer group, which witnessed risky markets rocked by historic activities including the Covid-19 pandemic, the development of the OPEC+ alliance with Russia and other non-OPEC states, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Even though the corporation misplaced two associates, Qatar and Ecuador, all through that time, Barkindo is nonetheless credited with guiding unity amid the group’s associates in an effort to stabilize world oil markets.

Barkindo’s loss of life arrives at a time of volatile power markets, world-wide inflation, rising local weather challenges, and continued fallout from the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. Geopolitical conflicts and sanctions have led to considerably tighter oil supplies, pushing charges to multiyear highs amid fears of a global economic downturn.

Barkindo had just been awarded a distinguished fellowship at the Atlantic Council, established to get started upon the completion of his expression at OPEC on July 31.

Atlantic Council CEO Frederick Kempe experienced formerly described Barkindo as having “unparalleled expertise on oil marketplaces, protection, and governance” and “a deep being familiar with of geopolitics in a volatile earth.”

In a statement bundled in the council’s July 1 announcement of the new fellowship, Barkindo experienced stated, “I am deeply honored to have been acknowledged as a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council … I look forward to contributing to the organization’s get the job done on a myriad of energy-relevant troubles, at a time when the world’s eyes are concentrated on both equally quick- and very long-phrase electricity market place outlooks.”

— CNBC’s Emma Graham contributed to this article.