Halliburton Co. opening headquarters in Dubai

Manama, Mar 12: Halliburton Co., the U.S. oilfield service giant, said its chief executive plans to open a corporate headquarters in the United Arab Emirates in an effort to expand business in the Eastern Hemisphere.

''My office will be in Dubai, and I will run our entire worldwide operations from that office,'' Halliburton chief executive David Lesar said at an energy conference in Bahrain.

''Dubai is a great business centre.'' The company said it will maintain its global headquarters in Houston, where the company is currently based.

An analyst said the move made sense. ''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.'' During 2006, more than 38 percent of Halliburton's billion in oil services revenue was generated in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Sanchez said he believed Halliburton's move to Dubai is not tax related. Instead he views it as a strategic play.

Lesar said Halliburton is considering listing its shares on one of the Middle East bourses as it looks at growth potential in the hemisphere.

''One of the things that we would like to pursue ... is a listing of our shares in the Middle East,'' Lesar said on the sidelines of the event. Halliburton has not yet decided in which country it would list its shares.

''At this point in time we clearly see there are greater opportunities in the Eastern Hemisphere than the Western Hemisphere,'' he told reporters.

Growth

Halliburton would spend a large part of its .4 billion investment budget for the year in the Middle East, he said.

Oil and gas service companies have hiked prices for their services over the past two years as the sector strains to bring enough capacity on line to meet rapidly rising 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 concern that oil and gas companies might cut back on spending in North America.

Halliburton has long been involved in the Middle East energy sector.

KBR Inc., the engineering and military-services contractor unit that Halliburton is in the process of splitting off, is the Pentagon's largest contractor in Iraq. The company has faced several investigations into alleged overbilling there, as well as for its links to Iran, where U.S. companies are forbidden from operating.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was head of the company from 1995-2000.

Lesar also said he expected the price of oil to stay above a barrel, providing good conditions for future investment in the oil and gas industry.

Reuters