TheCable

Mohammed Barkindo, former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has been nominated to lead the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for a second time.

Barkindo, who is billed to replace Abdalla El-Badri, the current secretary-general of the oil cartel, led the organisation in 2006 as acting secretary-general.

Abdallah Salem el-Badri, from Libya, has been the secretary-general of OPEC since January 1, 2007, with his tenure expected to come to an end in 2012. But division in the cartel has delayed the expiration of his tenure from 2015, when OPEC extended his leadership, to July 2016.

According to Wall Street Journal, OPEC delegates have previously said Indonesia, Nigeria or Angola are the likeliest countries to produce the cartel’s leader.

Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, seen as OPEC strongholds, have been unable to put up a consensus candidate following intense rivalries between them in recent years.

Nigeria, on the other hand, has been considered as relatively neutral and excluded from the rivalries, leading to its viability to lead the cartel in mending fences between its 13-member nation.

Barkindo is also seen to have an advantage over Indonesia’s potential candidate, following the country’s suspension in 2009 and reactivation in January 2016.

In 2006, Barkindo served as acting secretary-general of the organisation, handing over to another Nigerian, Edmund Daukoru, who was minister for state for energy under former president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

Barkindo served as NNPC GMD from 2009 to 2010, under former president, Umar Musa Yar’adua.

John Hall, chairman of consultants Alfa Energy, told Bloomberg that Barkindo “would be well placed in the secretary-general role and could offer a smooth transition out of the current deadlock, enabling the OPEC secretariat to resume operations at full strength”.

“He knows how OPEC operates and is known to many delegates,” he said.

Rilwanu Lukman, Meshach Otokiti Feyide, and Edmund Daukoru are the only Nigerians to have substantively led OPEC in such capacity.

The information department of the OPEC secretariat could not confirm Barkindo’s nomination as at press time.