The Secretary-General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo, is dead.

Barkindo died at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday at the age of 63 years.

His decision was announced by Mele Kyari, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, Limited.

In a tweet on Wednesday morning, Kyari said

said Barkindo’s demise was a great loss to Nigeria, OPEC, his family, and the international community.

“We lost our esteemed Dr. Muhammad Sanusi Barkindo." He died at about 11 p.m. yesterday, July 5, 2022. "Certainly a great loss to his immediate family, the NNPC, our country Nigeria, OPEC and the global energy community,” Kyari tweeted.

“Burial arrangements will be announced shortly,” he added.

Barkindo visited President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday.

The deceased was the third ex-NNPC GMD to have passed on in two years.