OPEC secretary-general is dead, Nigerian officials announce

By CHINEDU ASADU and AYA BATRAWY
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian authorities have announced that the Secretary-General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has died. Nigerian Mohammad Barkindo died late Tuesday, a spokesman for Nigeria’s petroleum ministry told The Associated Press. The reason for his death was not immediately known. Barkindo, a Nigerian, led the crude oil bloc since August 2016, seeing it through some of its most turbulent times including during the pandemic when the oil price was hit with declining demand. Barkindo’s death was a great loss according to Mele Kyari, Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company who described his passing as “a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy community.”