Opec secretary general Mohammad Barkindo, who played a key role in the creation of the Opec+ alliance, has died aged 63.
Barkindo, an oil industry veteran, was to leave his role at Opec at the end of July after six years with the Vienna-based organisation.
His death in his native country, Nigeria, was first announced by Mele Kyari, group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on Wednesday morning.
“We lost our esteemed Dr Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo,” Mr Kyari tweeted.
Barkindo died at about 11pm on Tuesday, Mr Kyari said. His death is “a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, Opec and the global energy community”, he said.
Opec paid tribute to Barkindo and called him “a visionary leader and an eloquent communicator who played a key role in forming the historic Declaration of Co-operation at the end of 2016”.
A number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Iran and Russia, signed the declaration six years back to co-operate in cutting production to stabilise oil markets.
The group last week agreed to increase production in August by 648,000 barrels per day, endorsing a plan announced earlier in June. The latest output increase fully restores the 5.8 million bpd output that was cut during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“He served the organisation with great distinction and helped it successfully navigate through two major industry downturns [2015-2016 and 2020-2021], was instrumental in the setting up of the Charter of Co-operation and was a consummate diplomat in further advancing dialogue and co-operation with a variety of industry stakeholders,” Opec said.
Barkindo took charge as head of Opec in 2016 and his tenure was marked by some extraordinary events such as volatile markets, global shocks, the formation of the Opec+ alliance with Russia and other non-Opec producers, the coronavirus pandemic and Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine.
His death came as a shock to many, especially those in the oil and gas industry.
UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said in a tweet: “We highly honour and appreciate his distinguished work for the organisation during hard and turbulent times. We send our deepest condolences to his family, friends, [the] petroleum community and the Nigerian government.”
Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said “Barkindo was a friend to Iraq and loved its people”, according to an Iraqi News Agency report.
“He was keen on strengthening Opec’s role in stabilising oil markets in the face of challenges that had stormed the oil sector and the global economy.”
In his tribute to Barkindo, Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, said: “This is a great loss to Nigeria, to Opec, to the energy sector and, most compassionately, to his family, which we have in our prayers and thoughts.”
Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov also paid tribute to Barkindo and remembered his “invaluable services in the regulation of the oil market in the most difficult period”.
“The renaissance of the organisation [Opec] coincided with his years as the secretary general; the simultaneous completion of his mission in Opec and in life was a rare regularity,” Mr Shahbazov tweeted.
Azerbaijan is part of the Opec+ alliance.
Born in Adamawa State in Nigeria, Barkindo’s career spanned more than four decades, starting from the early 1980s when he had stints with the NNPC, Nigeria’s energy and foreign ministries, Duke Oil and Opec.
He attained a postgraduate diploma in petroleum economics from Oxford University in the UK in 1988 and a master in business administration degree in finance and banking from Washington University in the US in 1991.
Barkindo was Nigeria’s delegate to Opec ministerial conferences from 1986 to 2010, as well as Nigeria’s Opec governor from 2009 to 2010, according to his biography on Opec’s website.
He took part in the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum in Dubai in March and stressed the importance of boosting investments in the oil and gas sector to meet growing energy demand globally.
Investments in the sector “dropped 50 per cent” as a result of the impact of the downturn caused by lower oil prices in 2015 and 2016 and “we had not recovered fully before Covid struck in 2020, and we saw in 2020 capital investments” contract by about 30 per cent and stay flat in 2021, he said at the time.
Barkindo was expected to join the Atlantic Council later this month as a distinguished fellow in the global energy centre after the conclusion of his tenure at Opec.
The biog
Hometown: Birchgrove, Sydney Australia
Age: 59
Favourite TV series: Outlander Netflix series
Favourite place in the UAE: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque / desert / Louvre Abu Dhabi
Favourite book: Father of our Nation: Collected Quotes of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan
Thing you will miss most about the UAE: My friends and family, Formula 1, having Friday's off, desert adventures, and Arabic culture and people
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The specs
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Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
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Fireball
Moscow claimed it hit the largest military fuel storage facility in Ukraine, triggering a huge fireball at the site.
A plume of black smoke rose from a fuel storage facility in the village of Kalynivka outside Kyiv on Friday after Russia said it had destroyed the military site with Kalibr cruise missiles.
"On the evening of March 24, Kalibr high-precision sea-based cruise missiles attacked a fuel base in the village of Kalynivka near Kyiv," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine confirmed the strike, saying the village some 40 kilometres south-west of Kyiv was targeted.
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Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
