Article author:
Reuters
Abuja — The boss of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), who died Mohammed Barkindo, the secretary-general of OPEC, announced Wednesday.
Balkind, 63, was scheduled to resign at the end of this month after taking the top position at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for six years.
"We have lost the respected Dr. Muhammad Sanushi Balkind," NNPC CEO Melecari wrote on Twitter. He added that he died late Tuesday.
Death is "a huge loss to his immediate family, NNPC, our country Nigeria, OPEC, and the global energy community," Kyari added.
Carri met with Nigerian President Muhammad Buhari and said Balkind died hours after giving his main speech at the Energy Summit in Abuja.
Mr. Balkind said the oil and gas industry has been "siege" due to a long-standing lack of investment and can handle the current tight supply of the market by allowing oil transactions from Iran and Venezuela. Said.
Balkind's career in the oil industry began in Nigeria in the early 1980s. He has held various positions at NNPC and represented Nigeria on the OPEC Economic Committee.
After acting as OPEC Secretary-General in 2006, he returned to that position 10 years later, leading the organization towards greater cooperation with non-OPEC oil producers and the turbulent oil market. He has led the organization throughout the period.
After leaving OPEC, Balkind was scheduled to join the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center, a US think tank, as a prominent fellow, the Council recently announced. (Report by Maher Chmaytelli, Maha El Dahan in Dubai, Nadine Awadalla in Cairo, MacDonald Dzirutwe in Abuja, Written by Bate Felix, edited by Clarence Fernandez and Louise Heavens)
