The Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo, yesterday said the worst days of the oil crisis are over but the challenge remained how to consolidate the gains.
He said there is an unprecedented 90 per cent compliance level to the the joint decision that the OPEC and non OPEC members took in December which led to some member countries withdrawing about 1.2million barrel per day and the 11 non- OPEC withdrew 11 barrels,.
The OPEC chief, who spoke in Abuja, during a visit to the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu said: “So, we remain optimistic that the worst is over for the circle. The challenge now is how to solidify this platform of 24. I must report to you that the signals we are getting from the non OPEC side is highly positive.”
According to him, Equitoria Guinnea had applied to join the organization
According to him, the market would dictate the equilibrium price eventually and the restoration of the balance of the one valuable of stock will bring the market to balance and the equilibrium price that will be fair to producers and consumers that will bring back investment to the industry.
Asked whether Nigeria would continue to enjoy, he said “Going forward , this decision is for six months and therefore, this country continues to be exempted for this six months. And we will continue to pray and hope that they will recover their production and rehabilitate their production facilities and return to the market full because the market needs every barrel that Nigeria can produce or Libya or the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“The demand figures continue to show robust growth of over 1 million a day going forward. And therefore, while we are working hard to restore this stability, the focus is how we can sustain it going forward.”
He said the global oil industry supply chain lost $1trillion to the crisis, noting that “the industry globally had lost nearly $1trillion in terms of deferred projects and adverse cancellation of projects across the supply chain.”
Barkindo who said the decisions to cut supply had been beneficial to the industry, added that “we are in the course of pulling this industry out of the worst recession that we have entered to restore stability to the market on a sustainable basis that will allow investments to come back.”
According to him, the rate of turnover of the Chief Executive Officers of the Nigerian oil industry was part of its challenges. Kachikwu projected that oil would hit $60 per barrel.
He noted that OPEC had lost its credibility, which it is now recovering from.
The minister said with the restoration of confidence in the organization, investors were no longer considering reserve but a future rise in price.
He said: “It is a fact that he (Barkindo) has given OPEC a new face . OPEC had lost credibility that nobody was listening to us whenever we came for meetings.
“But today, with the build up in the U.S. of reserves, nobody is looking at that in terms of pricing oil. They are simply looking at what OPEC is doing. As the momentum rose, we are actually going to be at $60 roof.”
Tag: Barkindo
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Worst oil days over, say Barkindo, Kachikwu
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Why Barkindo may become secretary-general
MORE than three after the expiration of the tenure of Libya’s Abdalla El-Badri as its Secretary-General, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will today elect a replacement. El-Badri’s tenure ended since 2012.
Abdalla El-Badri was due to stand down in 2012 after serving out two terms but political contention between Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq prevented the oil cartel from agreeing on the candidates proposed by each of them.
The disagreement over choosing a successor subsisted during last year’s December 4 meeting. The rivalry was worsened by the slump in oil prices, which heightened tensions over the direction of the cartel. Therefore, the election of substantive secretary-general has become imperative to ensure a smooth transition out of the three-year deadlock, and enable full seamless operation of the OPEC secretariat.
The Federal Government has since forwarded the name of Mohammed Barkindo, a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to fill the position of the group’s Secretary-General.
The Nation’s investigation reveals that Barkindo would likely be a consensus candidate.
Before now, candidates for the position were expected from Indonesia, Ecuador, Angola and Nigeria. Currently, the candidates from Nigeria and Angola are the major contenders for the post.
The Nation also learnt that the Federal Government has been carrying out extensive campaign to ensure Barkindo’s emergence.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who doubles as the Petroleum Resources Minister and his Minister of State, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, have done everything necessary to see Barkindo through.
At the Doha, Qatar summit in April, where world’s largest oil producing countries met to discuss oil output freeze to stall continued drop in price, Buhari and Kachikwu reportedly used the platform to sell Barkindo’s candidacy to OPEC members.
It was also learnt that Kachikwu had taken personal visits to Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, among others, to canvass support for Barkindo.
Former Venezuelan Minister of Mines and Energy and a member of the global oil industry outfit, CWC Group, Dr. Alirio Parra, described Barkindo’s nomination by the Federal Government for the post of the OPEC scribe as apt. Parra said “Barkindo knows the oil industry and OPEC well”.
The chairman of consultants of Alfa Energy, John Hall, who has worked in the oil industry for more than 40 years, said: “Barkindo knows how OPEC operates and is known to many delegates,” adding that he is very popular and experienced.
The man Barkindo
Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, a thorough-bred industry technocrat, knows the workings of the oil and gas industry. He is also vast on the operation and management of the OPEC.
With a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from South Eastern University, Washington DC, United States (U.S.), started his career as a member of the Nigerian delegation to OPEC in 1986 when the late Dr. Rilwanu Lukman was Minister of Petroleum Resources.
He was the National Representative for OPEC between 1993 and 2008. Barkindo was the Deputy Managing Director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), between 1993 and 2008. He served as OPEC’s acting Secretary-General in 2006 after Edmund Dakouru.
Barkindo was the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation from 2009 to 2010. He also served as Head of the NNPC’s London office, Managing Director of NNPC’s oil and gas trading division, NNPC Group Executive Director, Managing Director Hyson/Carlson in Bermuda, Group General Manager, Corporate Investments, President, Duke Oil Inc and President, NAPOil Inc.
As the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Barkindo expedited action on the transformation programme of the NNPC. He initiated the transforming of NNPC from a sleeping oil behemoth into a world-class profit-driven national oil company.
He introduced cost-efficient strategies across the departments and strategic business units of the NNPC and was able to over N20b for the firm. Part of the money was saved from the Exploration and Production Directorate through the renegotiation of contracts with suppliers and the elimination of unnecessary committee meetings that incur huge travel costs.
Also in the Directorates of Corporate Services, Refining and Petrochemicals, the cost-saving measures introduced include the renegotiation of contracts with suppliers and the reduction of chemical consumption through a cutback in steam losses and overheads respectively. At the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) huge amounts were also saved through the cut in demurrage costs and interest on late payments, among others.
He prepared the NNPC on well defined growth paths to be self-sustaining and profit-driven.
Today, the world awaits the OPEC to make history.
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Barkindo set to pick OPEC job
A Nigerian oil technocrat, Mohammed Barkindo, has emerged the frontrunner to take the top job at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
It was learnt that members are seeing 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 in the last decade.
OPEC is likely to choose Barkindo, a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), as the next secretary-general of the producer group, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters news Agency..
The OPEC 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.
However, Barkindo’s appointment was by no means certain and Badri’s tenure could yet be extended by another six months, some sources said.
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 will meet tomorrow in Vienna. The consensus of all members – which in the past has sometimes been elusive – is required for the appointment of a new secretary-general.
Barkindo led the NNPC 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 two decades.
He was deputy managing director of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company, a joint venture between NNPC, Shell Gas BV, Total and Eni.
He was also head of NNPC’s London office, managing director of NNPC’s oil and gas trading division, and an NNPC group executive director.
“He’s a reasonably safe pair of hands and good for a more administrative role like secretary-general.”