Ashti Hawrami, Iraqi Kurdistan’s first and longest serving minister of natural resources passed away on 20 October in London at the age of 76 after a battle with cancer. A staunch advocate of Kurdish autonomy, ‘Ashti’, whose real name was Abdullah Abdulrahman Tawelayi, is credited with opening Kurdistan’s oil sector to foreign investment, signing more than 20 production sharing contracts with foreign firms – the legality of which is at the heart of disputes between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Federal authorities in Baghdad. He served as Minister of Natural Resources from 2006 to 2019, following which, he was given a “senior advisory role” to PM Masrour Barzani (MEES, 8 January 2021). Although his relations with IOCs were often strained over delayed payments, his legacy remains his fundamental role in building Kurdistan’s oil sector from scratch.