Crisis In Texas

Halliburton, a large oil company based in Houston, Texas, is moving their headquarters to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. This move has become very controversial in the media and suspicion over taxes, spending, and Chief Executive Officer Dave Lesar’s decision to head the Dubai operation. With the article Halliburton Moves Its Headquarters Abroad, ABC News attacked the move by pointing out Dubai’s lower taxes and Halliburton’s $2.3 billion in profits last year. The article goes on to note that Halliburton served America’s troops spoiled food and contaminated water, while overcharging the government $2.7 billion in Iraq.

On Halliburton’s website, there is no mention or rebuttal of the claims made in reference to Iraq. Instead their article, Halliburton Opens Corporate Headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, focuses on “expanding its customer relations with national oil companies while concentrating more of the company’s investments and resources in growing its business in the Eastern Hemisphere”. The tone in the article is indifferent to the media’s concerns and tries to concentrate attention on information about growth and opportunities for the company. Halliburton’s response to the latest accusations of its practices is inadequate. Instead of addressing problems, Halliburton turns the story around to talk about growth for the North American oil industry. No new information is enclosed in their statement, and no reference or explanation is offered for the tax issues. In conclusion I think that Halliburton needs to more directly combat the attacks on their company and their country’s military.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Business/story?id=2942429&page=1

http://www.halliburton.com/default/main/halliburton/eng/news/source_files/news.jsp?newsurl=/default/main/halliburton/eng/news/source_files/press_release/2007/corpnws_031107.html