OPEC Rejects Diezani Alison-Madueke As Secretary-General

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News Thursday, June 12th, 2014

Jacob Oyewale

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday rejected the nomination of Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke as Secretary-General, the delegates however supported Libyan Abdullah al-Badri to continue to hold the position.

Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Diezani Allison-Madueke

African Examiner reports on Tuesday that President Jonathan had nominated Nigerian Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, to succeed the long-serving incumbent, who had previously planned to retire in 2012.

OPEC members decided to extend al-Badri’s tenure, dashing the ambition of controversial Alison-Madueke, who is currently facing series of corruption allegations in Nigeria.

The proposal to have Alison-Madueke to serve as OPEC’s secretary-general was to solve the deadlock over the post created by opposing candidates from Saudi Arabia and Iran, Iraqi’s Oil Minister, Abdul Kareem Luaibi, had said on Tuesday.

Investigations revealed that Nigeria’s delegation to the OPEC conference made a push during the week to nominate Alison-Madueke for the post in order to resolve the differences among members who had been split over who would replace al-Badri.

Meanwhile, the OPEC delegates agreed to roll over the group’s production quota, maintaining its current official production output.

The decision was despite concerns over adequate global supply.

OPEC noted that Libya had struggled to lift its output amid political turmoil in the country, adding that global growth and oil demand had been picking up.

The OPEC, 12-members organisation in its ongoing semi-annual meeting in Vienna, Australia, agreed to keep its official output quota at 30 million barrels per day.