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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has voted to appoint Kuwaiti candidate Haitham Al-Ghais as its new secretary general.

He will take up the role from Aug. 1 2022, for a period of three years.

Al-Ghais has previously worked for the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and served as Kuwait’s OPEC Governor from 2017 to June 2021.

He currently works as deputy managing director for International Marketing at KPC.

Al-Ghais chaired the Joint Technical Committee of the Declaration of Cooperation in 2017 and subsequently served as a member of the JTC until June 2021.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya on Monday, Al-Ghais said the oil market is going through a phase of short, medium and long-term challenges, and the organization is expecting the global demand for oil to return to normal levels before the pandemic by the end of 2022.  

The oil supply is expected to remain limited, he said.

Al-Ghais added that it is important to work on the continuity of the joint cooperation declaration, called the OPEC+ agreement for the organization and its allies, with the aim of maintaining the stability and balance of the oil markets.

He revealed that this will be his first priority.

Al-Ghais will replace Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, the Nigerian who has held the post since Aug. 1 2016.

Barkindo has sought to stabilize the global oil market since the market downturn related to the COVID-19 pandemic.