The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced the appointment on Monday of Haitham Al-Ghais of Kuwait as secretary-general to replace Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo who has led the cartel since August 2016.
The appointment of Al-Ghais will be effective as of Aug.1, 2022, for three years.
A veteran of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and Kuwait’s OPEC Governor from 2017 to June 2021, Al-Ghais currently serves as deputy managing director for International Marketing at KPC.
He chaired the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) in 2017 and subsequently served as a member of the JTC until June 2021.
“A long-serving veteran of Nigeria’s oil industry and OPEC, Mr. Barkindo has been instrumental in expanding OPEC’s historical efforts to support sustainable oil market stability through enhanced dialogue and cooperation with many energy stakeholders, including the landmark DoC since its inception in December 2016,” the statement read.
From 2009 to 2010, Barkindo was the group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Previously, he served as Deputy Managing Director of Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas, a joint venture between the NNPC, Shell, Total and Eni.
Earlier in his career, Barkindo served as OPEC acting secretary-general in 2006.
By Sibel Morrow and Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr