Nigerian oil technocrat has emerged as
frontrunner to take the top job at OPEC, with
members seeing Mohammed 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 for the past decade, during which
various governments tried and effectively failed
to reform Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
(NNPC), the national oil company.

Today, Nigeria has, alongside Venezuela,
become one of the main victims of oil's price
collapse, with the country's output declining
sharply due to militant attacks on pipelines and
infrastructure.

OPEC is likely to choose Barkindo, a former
head of NNPC, as the next secretary-general of
the producer group, three sources with
knowledge of the matter said.

OPEC has, since 2012, been looking for a
replacement for Libya's Abdullah al-Badri, who
was elected as the 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 meet on June 2 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 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
more than two decades.

He was deputy managing director of the
Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Co., 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. He also knows the ropes at OPEC from
when he was Lukman's [right-hand man]," a
senior industry source with close ties to Nigeria
said.

Rilwanu Lukman was influential in Nigeria's oil
industry for many years. He served as oil
minister during military rule and later as
secretary-general to OPEC and special adviser
on oil to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

"Don't expect any fireworks, either positive or
negative," the industry source said.


www.epmag.com/nigerian-mohammed-barkindo-emerges-opec-secretary-general-frontrunner-850176