WILL DICK CHENEY GET HIS OLD JOB BACK?

 

Corporate giant
to move HQ to the Gulf

 

Halliburton to move HQ to Dubai
Combined News Agencies Monday, 12 March 2007

HOUSTON, Texas — Halliburton, a U.S. oil services company, said Sunday it will open a corporate headquarters in Dubai, extending operations in the Middle East and Asia .

The company is currently being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Justice Department over allegations of improper business affairs in Iraq , Kuwait and Nigeria .

"Halliburton chairman, president and chief executive officer Dave Lesar will move to Dubai to lead the company's efforts in growing Halliburton's business in the Eastern Hemisphere, an important market for the global oil and gas industry," the company said in a press release.

The announcement was made at a regional energy conference in Bahrain, the press release said.

"The Eastern Hemisphere is a market that is more heavily weighted toward oil exploration and production opportunities and growing our business here will bring more balance to Halliburton's overall portfolio," Lesar said in the release.

The company will continue to operate "a corporate office in Houston ," the statement said. It also has operations in Saudi Arabia .

In 2006, more than 38 percent of Halliburton's 13 billion dollar oil field services revenue was generated from the Eastern Hemisphere, the company said.

Formerly headed by Dick Cheney, the U.S. vice-president, the company won contracts in Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, some of which were awarded without going to tender.

"This is an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges for all these years," said Patrick Leahy, Democratic senator and chairman of the judiciary commitee.

Halliburton is in the process of splitting off its engineering and military services contracts unit, KBR, which is the Pentagon's largest contractor in Iraq.

KBR already has more than $20 billion in revenues from its Iraq contracts and has been the target of several investigations into its billing practices and complaints from some U.S. politicians about its close ties to the Bush administration.