Mohammed Barkindo

From 1991, Barkindo was leader of Nigeria's delegations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He was the only Nigerian delegate to attend all the United Nations Climate Change conference meetings from 1995 to 2010. He was elected Vice President of the Conference of Parties in 2007, 2008, and 2009.[4]

Barkindo first became one of Nigeria's delegates to OPEC ministerial conferences in 1986. In 1993, he was appointed as Nigeria's representative on the OPEC economic commission board (ECB).[4] He remained on the board until 2008, and as a delegate until 2010. From 2009 to 2010, he was the Nigerian Governor on the OPEC Board of Governors.[1]

In 2006, Barkindo served as the Acting Secretary General of OPEC. In this capacity, he chaired the ECB. In the following year's meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Barkindo was chair of the OPEC Task Force.[3][7]

Barkindo meeting with Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Schallenberg in 2021

At the beginning of June 2016, Barkindo was appointed Secretary General of the OPEC for a period of three years. He would take office on 1 August 2016, succeeding the Libyan Abdallah Salem el-Badri, who had been Secretary General since 2007.[8] Barkindo was considered a neutral choice. Nigeria was not calling for production regulation to raise prices, and was not directly involved in existing tensions between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran.[9]

In his first remarks about the appointment, Barkindo acknowledged the diplomatic nature of the position, hoping that the members would be willing to "sit down and talk" over policy differences.[10] To this end, he aimed to develop personal rapport with the heads of state in OPEC member countries, particularly Saudi Arabia and Iran.[6] Through discussions with Russia and nine other non-OPEC countries, Barkindo facilitated the formation of an informal alliance called OPEC+. This new alliance, which controlled close to half the global oil production, began collective actions in 2017.[11][6] Barkindo also developed relationships with executives from U.S. oil producers, who traditionally viewed OPEC as a rival.[12] He was appointed for a second term in 2019,[13] and OPEC+ was formalized that same year.[6]

Barkindo continued to attend the UN climate change conferences, which he would address on behalf of OPEC.[14] He also led summits with the European Union in 2020[15] and 2022.[16] Barkindo turned down offers of an extended term, so Haitham al-Ghais of Kuwait was chosen by acclamation as his successor.[17] Barkindo agreed to become a distinguished fellow at the Global Energy Center of the Atlantic Council upon completing his term as Secretary General[18] on 31 July 2022.[6]