Kachikwu Named OPEC President

The group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has been named the new president of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.

The former executive vice chairman of ExxonMobil replaces Nigeria’s immediate past petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, who became the first female president of OPEC in November 2014, after she was elected at the 166th ordinary meeting of the organization.

On his plans for OPEC, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, told reporters in Lagos that he will do his best to delay Iran’s intended oversupply of crude oil, to control pricing.

Advertisement

The new OPEC boss said: “I think the key thing will be obviously crude oil price. There is a lot of sensitivity on that, $42 currently and with potential to go down if Iran throws their barrels into the field.

“My first target as I meet with ministers one-on-one is to try to delay Iran’s flooding of the market to the last quarter of next year. I will be talking with Iran’s oil minister on that so that we can stabilise the price.

“Maybe, hopefully, by the first or second quarter of next year, we will begin to see how that statement can now embolden us to go and begin to address removing the 1.5mbpd production that is lying in the market internationally.”

Leave a comment

Advertisement