Another challenging year ahead for OPEC chief

Barkindo assumed office at a very challenging time for OPEC. A few months prior to his appointment, talks between OPEC and other producers outside of the organization collapsed in Doha after Saudi Arabia insisted that Iran should join the agreement to freeze production.

Producers, however, did not give up after Doha and they launched another round of discussions that led to the historic agreement in Algeria to curtail production for the first time since 2008.

The discussions intensified after Algeria and OPEC tried to bring more non-OPEC oil producers to the agreement. The result was a global deal with 24 producers. It was the biggest ever in terms of the size of producers.

Although most of the decisions on the agreement were taken at the head-of-states level, ministers played a role in paving the way for smooth talks. Barkindo helped in that effort, as he was instrumental in bridging the many differences in opinion.

The talks that lead to the final agreement in the initial cuts deal, in November, were not easy. There were many differences between members on the extent of cuts that should be made. There was also the question of what to do with Iran, Libya and Nigeria, each of which had special circumstances. As talks intensified, among ministers or even at the technical level, Barkindo tried to bring everyone along.

He is respected among OPEC officials as he has long years of expertise on the organization’s matters and the right approach. In his working life, he has witnessed four Saudi oil ministers at OPEC, starting with Ahmed Zaki Yamani.

“Barkindo is very humble,” noted one OPEC delegate, who spoke to Arab News on the condition of anonymity. “He knows how to communicate with people, even those who are less knowledgeable and experienced. He makes everyone feel respected and appreciated and that’s why people like to talk to him.”

Barkindo, a former managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is perhaps one of the few OPEC figures today who held almost all OPEC’s major roles before assuming office. In 1986, he was appointed to Nigeria’s delegation to OPEC, and from 1993 to 2008, served as Nigeria’s National Representative on the organization’s Economic Commission Board. In 2006, he served as acting secretary general of OPEC, and represented Nigeria on OPEC’s board of governors from 2009 to 2010.

Barkindo owes most of his knowledge of OPEC to Rilwanu Lukman, former Nigerian minister of petroleum and former OPEC secretary-general, for whom he worked earlier in his career.

Barkindo is a very diplomatic figure and he is very polite, said analyst Abdulsamad Al-Awadhi, a Kuwaiti OPEC veteran who has known Barkindo since he joined OPEC in the 1980s. “OPEC needs a calm and diplomatic figure like him to deal with raging ministers and with aggressive media, but he needs more support from ministers to do his job well,” said Al-Awadhi.

Pleasing OPEC’s ministers is always a difficult job especially at times of low oil prices or when things do not work well.

Next year will be another challenging year for Barkindo. He will deal with new staff at OPEC’s research division, and needs to work with other ministers to ensure the market that OPEC will be there even when the cuts agreement expires in March. A possible renewal of the agreement will also need more efforts to convince countries to stay — something that will require Barkindo to deploy all of his diplomatic skills.

JEDDAH: Nigeria’s Mohammed Barkindo, secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), completed one year in office on Aug. 1. It was a successful year for him — but more challenges are ahead.