30 November 2016, Sweetcrude, Vienna, Austria — OPEC Secretary General, Dr. Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, met with OPEC Member Country Heads of Delegation yesterday at the OPEC Secretariat in Vienna, Austria, on the eve of the 171st Meeting of the Conference.
Dr Mohammad Barkindo met yesterday with the OPEC Heads of Delegation of Algeria, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iraq, Nigeria and Qatar in the lead up to today’s Meeting of the OPEC Conference.
The Heads of Delegation representing OPEC’s 14 Member Countries have been arriving into Vienna for the 171st Meeting of the OPEC Conference, which takes place today.
The visits included Guillaume Long, Foreign Minister of Ecuador, who is representing the country’s Minister of Hydrocarbons and Head of Delegation to OPEC, José Icaza Romero, who was unable to attend the meeting.
Dr. Barkindo welcomed Long to the Secretariat and thanked him for his support during the crucial meetings in Algiers that resulted in the adoption of the Algiers Accord.
Mr. Long expressed his ongoing support for OPEC and its mission to promote stability in the oil markets. He also remarked that the President of Ecuador,
Mr. Economista Rafael Correa Delgado, was very pleased to meet Mohammad Barkindo during the Secretary General’s recent visit to Ecuador on 17 November, adding that HE Correa referred to this meeting and spoke highly of the Secretary-General in a recent television broadcast.
The Secretary-General also met with HE Ignasius Jonan, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia and Head of its Delegation to the OPEC Conference.
The Secretary General welcomed Jonan to the OPEC Secretariat and congratulated him on his recent appointment to his new position. Mr. Jonan remarked that before accepting this new assignment, he had spent seven years as Indonesia’s Minister of Transportation.
Dr. Mohammad Barkindo complimented him on his impressive credentials and said that he would be well suited for this important new assignment. Both men agreed on the need to re-establish stability in the oil markets and vowed to maintain a fruitful collaboration in the years to come.
Also visiting the Secretary-General was Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources of Nigeria and Head of his country’s Delegation to OPEC.
Both men discussed the oil market situation and the need to address the ongoing oversupply in the market in order to bring the oil market back into equilibrium, adding that inaction could lead to an unprecedented third year of underinvestment in the industry, potentially jeopardizing future supply.
Dr. Emmanuel Kachikwu also spoke about his meetings last month in India with Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, the Indian Minister of State in charge of Petroleum and Natural Gas, where Nigeria signed a lucrative $15 billion oil and gas deal that will enable it bolster its crude production.
Both men agreed to continue working together for the common goal of market stability, in the interest of both producers and consumers.