Halliburton announced April 9 all of the commitments of its subsidiary working in Iran have been completed and it no longer has operations in the country. In January 2005, the company announced [1] it would not accept new contracts in Iran but would complete its existing projects there. Halliburton maintains its operations in Iran, handled through a Dubai office, were legal because they were isolated from the US operations and management. (Kuwait Times [2], April 10)
The new announcement comes just as Iran's government has announced the initiation of "industrial-scale" uranium enrichment—sending oil prices jumping to over $67 a barrel. Prices had dropped slightly after Iran's release of the captive British sailors last week. (Reuters [3], April 10) Ironically, Halliburton is said to have helped develop Iran's nuclear industry [4]—a fact little noted in recent media coverage.
See our last post on Halliburton [5] and Iran and the struggle for control of the world's hydrocarbons [6].
