Alison-Madueke Appointed OPEC’s Alternate President

Recognition came the way of Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani-Alison-Madueke as she was appointed late last week at the 164th meeting of the Conference of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as alternate president of the group.

The conference which was concluded in Vienna, Austria, also elected Dr Abdel Bari Ali Al-Arousi, Minister of Oil and Gas of Libya as president of the conference for one year, with effect from 1 January 2014, alongside Alison-Madueke.


The conference among others reviewed the Secretary General’s report, the report of the Economic Commission Board (ECB) and a number of administrative matters, a statement posted on its website said.

It further exchanged views on developments in multilateral environment negotiations, including: the outcome of COP19/CMP9 held in Warsaw, Poland, in November; the status of the Organization’s ongoing energy dialogue with the European Union (EU); its continued cooperative work with various other international organizations for the G-20; and its energy dialogue with the Russian Federation.

The conference reviewed the oil market outlook, as presented by the Secretary General, in particular supply/demand projections for 2014 as well as the global economic outlook, again noting the high sovereign debt in the Euro-zone; high unemployment in the advanced economies, especially the Euro-zone; and slow growth, coupled with inflation risk, in the emerging economies.
According to OPEC, “The biggest challenge facing global oil markets in 2014 is this global economic uncertainty, with the fragility of the Euro-zone remaining a cause for concern”.