Barkindo, who was 63 years old, was due to step down at the end of this month after six years as OPEC’s secretary-general.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo has died, Mele Kyari, the chief executive of Nigerian National Petroleum Corp said on Wednesday.
Barkindo, who was 63 years old, was due to step down at the end of this month after six years as OPEC’s secretary-general. He passed away on Tuesday, but the cause of death was not named in the statement.
Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, he worked in the organization as Nigeria’s representative since 1986 – first as a member of the delegation of this country, then as an official representative of Nigeria.
“We lost our esteemed Dr. Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo,” Kyari said on Twitter, adding that he died late on Tuesday.
A great loss
The death was a “great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community,” he added.
Kyari said Barkindo died hours after meeting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and giving the main speech at an energy summit in Abuja.
Barkindo said the oil and gas industry is “under siege” due to years of under-investment, adding that the resulting supply shortage could be eased if extra production from Iran and Venezuela was allowed to flow.