OPEC oil ministers will hold a meeting in Vienna on Friday with the head of the organization, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Hani Hussein, who has resigned. In less than three years, OPEC has seen five or six Kuwaiti oil ministers, whose names are difficult to remember. The lack of stability in the leadership of Kuwait's oil sector is affecting the image of this rich country, where political life is stalled because of disputes between the government and Parliament. This is hurting the country's vital interests. As for OPEC, in addition to the resignation by the organization's president in 2013 (the presidency is rotated on an annual basis), its Libyan secretary general, Abdullah al-Badri, saw his term extended for one year on an exceptional basis after he finished the legal maximum of six years in the post. OPEC has succeeded in agreeing on the need to protect prices from falling; this protection is now taking place, with prices stabilized at a reasonable level of $100 a barrel for Brent crude, despite the economic slowdown in Europe and a drop in demand in Asia. However, OPEC has failed to agree on the principle of selecting the most competent individuals for the secretary general's post, and this is due to politics. Iran and Iraq blocked the choice of the Saudi candidate, Dr. Majed al-Munif; the OPEC committee charged with examining the candidates' qualifications endorsed him as the best candidate. The Iraqi candidate, Thamer al-Ghadban, is certainly an expert in the Iraqi oil industry but he lacks the experience of taking part in conferences abroad, and engaging in dialogue with other world organizations. Dr. al-Munif, however, has taken part in international conferences and has engaged in dialogue with the west, and handled the running of ministerial sessions for more than a decade. The Iranian candidate, Gholam Reza Nuzari, is a former oil minister and lacks the qualifications to represent OPEC in international organizations because he does not speak English and is the candidate of a country being subjected to tough sanctions, while there is also Iran's destructive role in the region. Iran supports a Syrian regime that is killing its people and backs a Lebanese political party that is working for this dangerous policy in both Lebanon and Syria. In addition, it is a state that supports the regime of Nuri al-Maliki in Iraq, and he is taking his country in the direction of a new dictatorship. The mission of the OPEC secretary general has been of key importance, ever since the organization began preparing studies and reports on the oil market, like the International Energy Agency. This policy was adopted by the former director of studies, Kuwait's Adnan Shehab al-Din, who was also the Gulf's candidate for the secretary general's job at one point. However, Iran objected to him, despite his qualifications, even though Shehab al-Din left his mark on the organization. The Iranian regime, and its new ally in Iraq under al-Maliki, will continue to block very qualified people from the secretary general's job. OPEC is important to its members because it guarantees them fundamentally-important revenues. But unfortunately, in the Middle East and the Gulf you have Iran, which is working on regional destabilization at the expense of the interest of its own people's economic and development-related interests.
