OPEC is likely to choose Barkindo, a former head of NNPC, as the next secretary-general of the producer group, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has since 2012 been looking for a replacement for Libya's Abdullah al-Badri, who was elected acting secretary-general in December until the end of July after serving full terms.A Nigerian oil technocrat has emerged as frontrunner to take the top job at OPEC, with members seeing Mohammed Barkindo as a rare compromise candidate to lead the group amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Barkindo has been a key face of the Nigerian oil industry for the past decade, during which various governments tried and effectively failed to reform national oil company NNPC.
Today, Nigeria, alongside Venezuela, has become one of the main victims of oil's price collapse, with the country's output declining sharply due to militant attack However, Barkindo's appointment was by no means certain and Badri's tenure could yet be extended by another six months, some sources said.ks on pipelines and infrastructure Rivalries between OPEC heavyweights Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq have so far prevented the group from choosing candidates proposed by those countries.
OPEC oil ministers meet on Thursday in Vienna.
The consensus of all members, which in the past has been elusive, is required for the appointment of a new secretary-general.
Barkindo led the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation from 2009 to 2010 and served as acting secretary-general of OPEC in 2006 after the original Nigerian nominee, junior oil minister Edmund Daukouro, took over the rotating OPEC presidency.
Barkindo also served on OPEC's economic commission and held various high-ranking positions during a career at NNPC that spanned over .A Nigerian oil technocrat has emerged as frontrunner to take the top job at OPEC, with members seeing Mohammed Barkindo as a rare compromise candidate to lead the group amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Barkindo has been a key face of the Nigerian oil industry for the past decade, during which various governments tried and effectively failed to reform national oil company NNPC two decades. SOURCE: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
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