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| Halliburton will move HQ to Dubai
Quote: Halliburton will move HQ to Dubai - Yahoo! News
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Oil services giant Halliburton Co. will soon shift its corporate headquarters from Houston to the Mideast financial powerhouse of Dubai, chief executive Dave Lesar announced Sunday.
"Halliburton is opening its corporate headquarters in Dubai while maintaining a corporate office in Houston," spokeswoman Cathy Mann said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "The chairman, president and CEO will office from and be based in Dubai to run the company from the UAE."
Lesar, speaking at an energy conference in nearby Bahrain, said he will relocate to Dubai from Texas to oversee Halliburton's intensified focus on business in the Mideast and energy-hungry Asia, home to some of the world's most important oil and gas markets.
"As the CEO, I'm responsible for the global business of Halliburton in both hemispheres and I will continue to spend quite a bit of time in an airplane as I remain attentive to our customers, shareholders and employees around the world," Lesar said. "Yes, I will spend the majority of my time in Dubai."
Lesar's announcement appears to signal one of the highest-profile moves by a U.S. corporate leader to Dubai, an Arab boomtown where free-market capitalism has been paired with some of the world's most liberal tax, investment and residency laws.
"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 2006, Halliburton — once headed by Vice President
Dick Cheney — earned profits of $2.3 billion on revenues of $22.6 billion.
More than 38 percent of Halliburton's $13 billion oil field services revenue last year stemmed from sources in the eastern hemisphere, where the firm has 16,000 of its 45,000 employees.
Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995-2000 and the Bush administration has been accused of favoring the conglomerate with lucrative no-bid contracts in
Iraq.
Federal investigators last month alleged Halliburton was responsible for $2.7 billion of the $10 billion in contractor waste and overcharging in Iraq.
Halliburton last month announced a 40-percent decline in fourth-quarter profit, despite heavy demand for its oil field equipment and personnel.
| And Quote: Photo Slideshow | Reuters.com
MANAMA/HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. oil services firm Halliburton Co. is moving its headquarters and chief executive to Dubai to better position itself to gain contracts in the oil-rich Middle East.
Texas-based Halliburton, which was led by Vice President Dick Cheney from 1995-2000, did not specify what, if any, tax implications the move might entail. It plans to list on a Middle East bourse once it moves to Dubai -- a booming commercial center in the Gulf.
"My office will be in Dubai, and I will run our entire worldwide operations from that office," said Chief Executive David Lesar at an energy conference in Bahrain on Sunday. "Dubai is a great business center."
Halliburton has drawn scrutiny from auditors, congressional Democrats and the Justice Department for the quality and pricing of its KBR Inc. unit's work for the U.S. army in Iraq.
The Dubai move drew political condemnation.
"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 judiciary committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.
Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, might hold a hearing on the implications, an aide to Waxman said.
Halliburton, which has long been involved in the Middle East, generated more than 38 percent of its $13 billion in oil services revenue in the eastern hemisphere last year.
"The company as a whole has continued to diversify internationally, and the Middle East is a point that they have targeted," said William Sanchez, a U.S.-based analyst at Howard Weil Inc.
"They are being opportunistic in putting the CEO in the middle of the action."
Sanchez said he believed Halliburton's move to Dubai was not tax related. Instead he viewed it as a strategic play.
Alan Laws, an analyst at Merrill Lynch, said the move would likely help Halliburton's position in negotiating large contracts.
Halliburton said it would maintain its legal registration in the United States and was not leaving Houston, where it was currently based.
But Lesar told reporters: "At this point in time we clearly see there are greater opportunities in the eastern hemisphere than the western hemisphere."
KBR, the engineering and military-services contractor unit that Halliburton is in the process of splitting off, is the Pentagon's largest contractor in Iraq.
KBR has so far booked more than $20 billion in revenues from its work in Iraq and has been the target of several investigations into the company's billing practices. It has also faced complaints from some U.S. lawmakers about the company's close ties to the Bush administration.
MIDDLE EAST GROWTH
Oil and gas service companies have raised prices for their services over the past two years as the sector strains to bring enough capacity on line to meet rapidly rising oil demand.
Many new supply projects are in the oil-producing countries of the Middle East, while Asia accounts for most of the rising demand.
In contrast, a slide in natural gas prices in the United States has prompted investor concerns that oil and gas companies might cut back spending in North America.
Lesar also said he expected the price of oil to stay above $40 a barrel, providing good conditions for future investment in the oil and gas industry.
Halliburton's shares closed up 29 cents at $32.02 on Friday. The stock has gained 7 percent in the past month but has slipped 3 percent in the last 52 weeks.
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