Michael Barron: The Role of Raw Materials in the Middle East

Responsible Raw Materials Podcast · Aug 6, 2026 · 45m

Gas, The Strait of Hormuz and the Raw Materials Geopolitical Landscape of the Middle East

Michael Barron is a Middle East political risk specialist who came to natural resources by an unusual route. He studied Arabic, worked in consultancy, then moved into the oil and gas industry - a background that lets him read a gas field and a government with equal fluency. He is also the author of The Gaza Marine Story, which traces the untapped gas field off the coast of Gaza that, more than two decades after its discovery, has still not been developed.

His central point is that political events can…