Time to Choose New OPEC Chief

The time has come for OPEC to select a new secretary general for 2013, however the cartel has delayed this meeting. The meeting was supposed to take place this month but will most likely not take place until October.

Member countries vying for the secretary general position include Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq. Currently the group’s secretary general is Abdallah Salem el-Badri of Libya.

The selection of the next member country delegate to lead the group will prove toughas Western sanctions on Iran have heightened political tensions within OPEC and could lead the cartel to start off the year without its figurehead.

The panel, consisting mainly of OPEC governors − oil officials who represent their countries on the group's board of governors − will review the candidates and consider how the organization should proceed, officials said.

"There are some options to have a meeting but we have notagreed yet," an OPEC delegate, who declined to be identified told Reuters, said. "It was in August but then changed to October. It has not been finalized."

Saudi Arabiahas nominated, Majid Al-Moneef for the role and Iraq has proposed Thamir Ghadhban, energy adviser to Iraq's prime minister. Iran nominated a former oil minister, Gholam Hossein Nozari, and Ecuador also put a candidate forward.