Haliburton moving to Dubai

From the Fox News article;

“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.”

So what’s the big deal? Who’s surprised? Haliburton is an oil services company – the US isn’t interested in drilling for our own oil over here, so why shouldn’t they move to Mid-East? If Congress would get off their dead asses and authorize the US to drill, pipe and refine our own oil again, I’m sure Haliburton will reconsider.

As the Wall Street Journal says;

Halliburton’s decision is another sign of shifting alignments in the global oil order. Houston remains the center of the global Western oil trade, yet Dubai has grown in recent years as a rival — a hub for trade, investment and oil-patch deals, especially for national oil firms expanding beyond their home turf.

Why would a bookseller open a shop in a neighborhood of illiterates? 

Category: Economy, Foreign Policy, Politics