Diezani Loses Out As OPEC Extends El-Badri's Tenure

Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke yesterday lost out in the race to replace the Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), as the incumbent Abdalla S. El-Badri got a tenure extension.

Mr. El-Badri's tenure, which was to end in December, has now been extended to June 30, 2015, according to a communique at the end of the meeting.

Reports on Tuesday had said the Federal Government had proposed Mrs Alison-Madueke to be the OPEC head.

She would have been the first female to head the oil cartel if that bid had succeeded.

The 165th Meeting of the Conference of the OPEC convened in Vienna, Austria, yesterday, under the chairmanship of its President, Omar Ali ElShakmak, Acting Libyan Oil Minister.

A comunique at the end of the meeting said OPEC decided to extend the tenure of the current holder of the office for a period of six months from 1 January 2015.

Nigerian government's decision to propose Mrs Alison-Madeuke to be the next secretary-general of OPEC was seen as a move that could end a long-running leadership standoff at the organisation.

But it was also seen at home in Nigeria as an exit strategy for the minister, who is increasingly getting enmeshed in controversies.

The National Assembly is currently having a running battle with her over allegations of mismanagement of oil wealth, which government officials denied.

Another major decision reached at the OPEC meeting yesterday included adhering to the existing production level of 30mb/d by member countries should.

In taking this decision, the conference unanimously agreed that member countries would, if required, take steps to ensure market balance which is so important to world economic activity.

Member countries, in turn, reiterated their willingness to firmly respond to developments that might jeopardise oil market stability.

The conference earlier considered the Secretary General's report, the report of the 121st Meeting of the Economic Commission Board (ECB) and a variety of administrative matters. In so doing, the Conference listened to presentations and exchanged views on the status of multilateral negotiations on climate change, the Organisation's ongoing energy dialogue with the

European Union (EU), the continuing cooperation between OPEC, the International

Energy Forum (IEF) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), as well as the continued collaborative work with the G-20 and other international organisations.