Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), died in Nigeria on Tuesday. 

Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), confirmed Barkindo’s death in a tweet on Wednesday. 

“We lost our esteemed Dr Mohammed S Barkindo. He died at about 11.00 p.m. on Tuesday. Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community,” Kyari tweeted.

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Announcing Barkindo’s death, OPEC also tweeted on Wednesday, “This tragedy is a shock to the OPEC Family. We express our sorrow and deep gratitude for the over 40 years of selfless service that Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo gave to OPEC. His dedication and leadership will inspire OPEC for many years to come.”

Barkindo was the outgoing OPEC Secretary-General at the time of his death. Haitham Al-Ghais of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) will succeed Barkindo.

Barkindo was in Nigeria to deliver the OPEC chairman’s keynote address at the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference (NOG) in Abuja on Tuesday. 

He had met President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa earlier. 

Barkindo was born on April 20, 1959, in Yola, Adamawa State. He had served as the Secretary-General of OPEC since August 2016 and would have left the office on July 31, 2022. 

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He held a bachelor’s degree in political science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and a master’s degree in business administration degree from Washington University. 

He also earned a post-graduate diploma in petroleum economics from Oxford University in 1988. 

Barkindo previously represented Nigeria on OPEC’s economic commission board from 1993 to 2008. He had led Nigeria’s technical delegation to UN climate negotiations since 1991.