Hawrami does not control a major oil industry like his counterparts in the Gulf states, but this energetic Iraqi Kurd has been one of the most dynamic personalities in Middle Eastern oil and gas for the past 10 years.

Appointed as the Kurdistan Regional Government’s minister for natural resources in May 2006, he proceeded to create an independent hydrocarbons economy in Iraq’s north, upsetting the authorities in Baghdad and building relationships with foreign oil firms by offering them much-prized production-sharing contracts. The difficult political situation in Iraq has hindered success, but Hawrami can still claim to have single-handedly built up one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers.