Members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries, OPEC, yesterday, elected Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke,
Minister of Petroleum, as its president, making her the first female
president of the oil cartel.
Alison-Madueke, who is currently the Alternate President of OPEC, was
elected at the 166th meeting of the OPEC Conference in Vienna, Austria,
and will assume office from January 2015.
She is expected to take over from Abdourhman Atahar Al-Ahirish, Libya's Vice Prime Minister for Corporations.
The conference also elected Dr Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister
of Energy and Industry of Qatar and Head of its delegation as Alternate
President.
The Federal Government had, in June nominated Alison-Madueke for the
post of Secretary-General of the organisation to succeed the incumbent,
Abdullah al-Badri, whose tenure ends in December.
Speaking shortly after the election, Alison-Madueke maintained that
there were no quick fixes to sliding oil prices, adding that "the
strategy the Federal Government of Nigeria intends to deploy to cushion
the effect of the fall is to develop the country's gas infrastructure
for domestic use."
She said the current trend would make Nigeria to look very
stringently again at the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which is already
before the National Assembly to ensure that the enablers therein are
explored to make it more competitive in the global energy market.
She said the burden of falling oil prices was impacting on both OPEC and non-OPEC member countries.
She explained that OPEC would provide a veritable platform for member
countries to find a remedy and deal with the challenges posed by shale
oil and gas from the United States and the current decline in crude oil
prices.
She said: "US shale oil and gas had a lot of impacts on all major oil
and gas producing economies. It is a major game changer for all
stakeholders in the energy mix across the globe."
Allison-Madueke further stated that in the months ahead, OPEC would
provide a veritable platform for member countries to find a remedy and
deal with the issue frontally.
1 comment:
Good for her
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