Venezuelan Alirio Parra celebrated as OPEC pioneer, PDVSA heavyweight

Slight in physical stature, but colossal in the world of oil diplomacy, Alirio Parra was laid to rest Friday in London, hailed by influential figures in the industry for his role in founding OPEC in 1960, building up Venezuela’s PDVSA and smoothing the often turbulent currents of geopolitics.

"Very big loss to the industry and ourselves," OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo, who attended the funeral, told S&P Global Platts. "We lost a reliable and dependable friend."

Parra, who was 90 when he died March 9, was an assistant to Venezuela’s Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo when he attended and played a critical role in the September 1960 meeting in Baghdad that led to the creation of OPEC.

He would later serve as a founding board member of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, where he was credited with modernizing its downstream sector and initiating the development of Orinoco Belt extra heavy crude in the mid-1990s that now underpins much of the country’s production growth prospects.

During his two-year tenure as Venezuela’s oil minister between 1992 and 1994, Parra also opened a number of mature oil fields to foreign investment. It was a move that helped to revive the country’s upstream sector and contribute to its rising crude output levels during the decade.

As head of its OPEC delegation, he was known for his work ethic and sharp understanding of global oil markets.

Venezuela’s oil ministry praised Parra as an "exemplary Venezuelan, who gave most of his life to an organization [OPEC] created to achieve a balanced oil market, as well as a fair valuation of resources for the benefit of the people."

Even after he left the post, the soft-spoken, bespectacled Parra continued to be a fixture at OPEC meetings, on many occasions giving advice to ministers and other senior dignitaries with whom he remained in close contact.

"He was a generous friend, with an easy smile and elegant manner," Mexico’s Deputy Secretary of Energy for Hydrocarbons Aldo Flores-Quiroga said on Twitter, one of many tributes on social media after Parra died.

Mexico is not a member of OPEC, but Flores has attended several recent meetings of the group, representing his country in the OPEC/non-OPEC production cut agreement.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, called Parra "a friend and a historic figure of the oil industry."

At OPEC’s most recent meeting in November, the organization feted Parra, who was still active in the industry as a board member of oil conference organizer CWC Group, with a distinguished career and lifetime achievement award.

Ever the OPEC advocate and diplomat, Parra praised the 24 OPEC and non-OPEC participants in the output cut agreement for stabilizing the market and urged them to remain steadfast in their commitment to the deal.

OPEC "is more relevant and more enlightened than ever — and more understanding of the role it must play with other producing nations and the oil industry at large," Parra said in accepting the award. "I believe, indeed, that the best days of this gathering of producing countries still lie ahead."