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Scott MacMillan, Invictus’ managing director, globally,” he was quoted as saying in Invictus’
said he was encouraged by the revised figures in statement. “This updated estimate is the culmi-
the ERCE report. nation of the excellent work from the Invictus
“The Mukuyu prospect has grown signif- technical team over the last 12-18 months to
icantly in its scale and now represents one of deliver this result in the lead up to our drilling
the largest conventional exploration targets programme.” ™

POLICY
OPEC secretary-general dies in Abuja

GLOBAL/NIGERIA MOHAMMAD Sanusi Barkindo, the secre- in 2009-2010, when he served as head of the
tary-general of OPEC, died unexpectedly in company, also acting in that capacity as Nige-
Abuja late on July 5. ria’s governor for OPEC. Additionally, he was
Barkindo, a Nigerian national, died less Nigeria’s representative on OPEC’s Economic
than a day after giving the keynote speech at an Commission Board between 1993 and 2008 and
industry summit in the Nigerian capital. His briefly served as OPEC’s acting secretary-gen-
death was announced in a Twitter post by Mele eral in 2006.
Kyari, the group managing director of Nigerian Barkindo had travelled to Abuja in prepara-
National Petroleum Co. Ltd (NNPC Ltd). tion for retirement from his position at OPEC,
“We lost our esteemed Dr Muhammad as he was due to step down at the end of July. His
Sanusi Barkindo. He died at about 11pm yes- successor has been named as Haitham al-Ghais,
terday, 5 July 2022. Certainly a great loss to a long-time Kuwaiti oil executive currently
his immediate family, the NNPC, our country serving as deputy managing director for inter-
Nigeria, the OPEC and the global energy com- national marketing at Kuwait Petroleum Corp.
munity. Burial arrangements will be announced (KPC).
shortly,” Kyari wrote. Al-Ghais has held many positions within
As of press time, Barkindo’s cause of death KPC and also acted as Kuwait’s OPEC governor
had not been specified. between 2017 and 2021.
Barkindo began serving as OPEC’s secre- According to press reports, Barkindo met
tary-general in August 2016 after holding a with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari
variety of posts within OPEC and the Nigerian in Abuja. He also spoke at the summit about the
government. Most of his government posts were shocks that have hit the global oil and gas indus-
with state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum try over the last decade. He described the sector
Corp. (NNPC), the predecessor to NNPC Ltd, as “under siege,” saying it had been affected by
which was formed last year under the Petroleum “two major cycles: the severe market downturn
Industry Act (PIA). in 2015 and 2016 and the even more far-reach-
His career at state-owned NNPC culminated ing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Barkindo (R) and his successor al-Ghais (L), shown in January 2022 (Photo: Twitter/@OPECSecretariat)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 27 06•July•2022