Kuwait nominates ex-governor to head OPEC

Iraqi oil minister Thamer Ghadban (R) speaks as OPEC governor for Kuwait Haitham al-Ghais looks on during a joint press conference at the end of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) meeting in Kuwait City on 23 December 2018. [YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images]

Kuwait has nominated its former governor to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Haitham Al-Ghais, to lead the oil producer group after Mohammad Barkindo’s term as secretary general, two sources close to the matter said according to Reuters.

Nigerian Barkindo, whose is due to step down at the end of July next year, took OPEC’s top job in mid-2016 and was granted a second three-year term in 2019.

Al-Ghais is the only candidate to be nominated so far, the sources said.

Al-Ghais stepped down as Kuwait’s OPEC governor in June this year and was appointed deputy managing director of international marketing at state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

He was previously in charge of KPC’s regional offices in Beijing and London before becoming governor to OPEC in 2017.

READ: White House reiterates calls for OPEC to do more on oil prices

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