Hawrami poised to keep KRG oil portfolio

ERBIL - The Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) long-serving minister of natural resources, Ashti Hawrami, appears well positioned to retain his position in the Cabinet of newly elected Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

While Barzani's ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has not finalized its list of ministers, Hawrami's name is the only one being discussed for the key job of managing the autonomous region's oil portfolio, according to a dozen interviews with both KDP insiders and members of the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), who have been negotiating closely over the formation of the new government.