He was appointed by the country's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Edmund Daukoru who formally assumed duty as president of OPEC for a period of one year on January 1, it said.

In line with a recent OPEC conference resolution, Daukoru was to serve as secretary-general of OPEC, but he chose to appoint Barkindo to function in that capacity with effect from January 1.

Barkindo, a petroleum economist, is a veteran of OPEC and has remained a long serving Nigerian Representative on the OPEC Economic Commission(ECB), the technical arm of OPEC, where he has served for 14 years.

Until his appointment, he was the deputy managing director of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd.. Enditem