The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) Secretary-General, Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, has passed away.
The 63-year-passing old’s was reported by Nigerian officials early on Wednesday morning, just hours after he had met President Muhammadu Buhari and delivered the keynote address at an energy forum in Abuja.
It was not immediately clear why he passed away late on Tuesday.
Barkindo, who started his career in 1982 with the Nigerian Mining Corporation before working in a variety of positions for more than 20 years at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, was about to leave OPEC when he passed away.
After leaving OPEC, he was scheduled to become a distinguished fellow at the Global Energy Center of the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think group.
