OPEC Secretary General Barkindo, who helped forge alliance with Russia, dies

OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo, who helped forge a coalition with Russia, increased the bloc's African contingent and led it through a turbulent oil market, died July 5 at the age of 63, less than one month before his term was due to end.

Barkindo took office on Aug. 1, 2016, and his six years in the post saw the creation of the OPEC+ alliance, which survived a historic plunge in crude prices in April 2020 during the depths of the pandemic and now Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Representing OPEC at international conferences and intergovernmental meetings, Barkindo was known for his humor, his love of quoting poetry, and his outspokenness against anti-fossil fuel activists, who he said were contributing to volatile prices and exacerbating energy poverty in less wealthy nations.

"He was the much loved leader of the OPEC secretariat and his passing is a profound loss to the entire OPEC family, the oil industry and the international community," the organization said in a statement.

Barkindo was in his native Nigeria for an oil conference when he died and had been a guest of President Mohammadu Buhari earlier in the day.

Buhari had commended Barkindo's contribution and efforts in rallying fellow OPEC members and non-OPEC producers in enforcing the Declaration of Cooperation, the pact binding OPEC's 13 members, Russia and nine other countries.

Mele Kyari, the CEO of state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., first announced his death on Twitter.

"Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community," he tweeted.

International relations

As secretary general, Barkindo was OPEC's public face to international bodies and was responsible for convening meetings, including extraordinary sessions as market conditions warranted. The position also oversees day-to-day affairs of the secretariat in Vienna.

Barkindo's shuttle diplomacy helped in talks to create OPEC's alliance with Russia and nine other countries under the OPEC+ umbrella, which controlled some half of global oil supply and was largely credited with stabilizing oil markets after a three-year slump with a series of coordinated production cuts beginning in January 2017.

Barkindo called the alliance a "Catholic marriage" between OPEC and its non-OPEC allies, which expanded the group's market clout.

Along the way, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo joined OPEC, increasing the bloc's African representation, along with Gabon, which reactivated its membership shortly before Barkindo was named secretary general.

However, Indonesia, Qatar and Ecuador left, leaving OPEC's membership at 13 countries.

In 2018, the bloc scrambled to put more supplies onto the market, after the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions on Tehran's oil sector.

Then in September 2019, the oil market was rocked by an attack on Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq crude processing facility and Khurais oil field, which briefly knocked out half of the kingdom's – and some 5% of the world's – crude production capacity. The strikes initially sent up crude prices 20%.

In March 2020, the OPEC+ alliance briefly fractured after failing to reach a consensus over how much further production to pare to combat the growing impact of the coronavirus, and members flooded the market, sending Brent crude prices into the teens and WTI briefly negative.

A deal partially brokered by then-US President Donald Trump brought the OPEC+ coalition back together for talks in May 2020 that led to a historic 9.7 million b/d collective cut, helping prices recover.

Fostering dialogue

More recently, the market has been stretched by western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. OPEC officials, including Barkindo, have said the group intends to maintain relations with Moscow, even as it is increasingly isolated over the war, due to its market heft.

The alliance is next scheduled to meet Aug. 3 to decide on production levels for September onward, by which time it will have completely unwound its production cuts, amid pressure from the US for more supplies and questions about how much crude key members Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be able and willing to pump.

Barkindo was one of Africa's most high profile oil officials and had a long history with OPEC, having been a member of the Nigerian delegation from 1986 to 2010, along with holding several positions with Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., including as its head from 2009 to 2010.

His six-year term as secretary general was due to expire at the end of July, and he is due to be replaced by Kuwait's Haitham al-Ghais.

Since his death, Barkindo has been praised by a range of oil industry officials for his ability to foster dialogue, including with OPEC's US shale rivals, hedge fund managers and international bodies.

Joe McMonigle, secretary general of the International Energy Forum, said Barkindo will be remembered "as a significant figure in the history of global energy governance."

"He was an exceptional diplomat who made a remarkable contribution to the stability of global energy markets," McMonigle said.