Monday, March 12, 2007
Halliburton relocates HQ to Dubai
Business
(The Times) Halliburton, the global oil services group once headed by Dick Cheney, America’s Vice-President, is to shift its headquarters from Texas to Dubai in a move redolent of the changing balance of power in the world’s oil industry. Dave Lesar, chief executive, said that Halliburton would retain an office in Houston but open a new corporate headquarters in the fast-growing Gulf financial centre. The chairman, president and chief executive will all be based there.
Speaking at an energy conference in Bahrain, Mr Lesar said that the move reflected Halliburton’s increased concentration on the Middle East, the main centre of expansion in world oil production, and in Asia, where rapid economic growth is demanding vast expansion of energy infrastructure. The move is a coup for Dubai, which has developed an ambitious new financial centre virtually from scratch.
More than 38 per cent of Halliburton’s $13 billion (£6.7 billion) oilfield services revenue last year stemmed from sources in the eastern hemisphere, where the firm has 16,000 of its 45,000 employees. Mr Cheney was Halliburton’s chief executive from 1995 to 2000, and the Bush Administration has been criticised for giving it lucrative contracts in Iraq that made its name synonymous with US influence. Halliburton and its rivals are, however, outgrowing their traditional role serving oil multinationals. National oil companies now prefer to deal direct with them rather than with the multinationals.
Speaking at an energy conference in Bahrain, Mr Lesar said that the move reflected Halliburton’s increased concentration on the Middle East, the main centre of expansion in world oil production, and in Asia, where rapid economic growth is demanding vast expansion of energy infrastructure. The move is a coup for Dubai, which has developed an ambitious new financial centre virtually from scratch.
More than 38 per cent of Halliburton’s $13 billion (£6.7 billion) oilfield services revenue last year stemmed from sources in the eastern hemisphere, where the firm has 16,000 of its 45,000 employees. Mr Cheney was Halliburton’s chief executive from 1995 to 2000, and the Bush Administration has been criticised for giving it lucrative contracts in Iraq that made its name synonymous with US influence. Halliburton and its rivals are, however, outgrowing their traditional role serving oil multinationals. National oil companies now prefer to deal direct with them rather than with the multinationals.
Labels: Dave Lesar, Dubai, Halliburton, HQ
