Halliburton in talks to enter Iraq

Dubai: US oil services firm Halliburton said it is in discussions with energy companies to enter Iraq, but will wait for the security situation there to improve before putting its personnel on the ground.

“We are not doing any business in Iraq right now. However, we are in some discussions with some customers that are thinking about going into Iraq and investing to develop some of the resources that are there. Collectively we have to make sure that we are satisfied with the security situation,'' Halliburton chief executive officer Dave Lesar told reporters on Tuesday.

The discussions are being conducted with “customers that planning to re-enter Iraq'' Lesar said, without identifying the companies.

KBR, a Halliburton unit now separated from the company, is working on several US military projects in Iraq.

Halliburton, which has moved its corporate headquarters to Dubai, is looking for a site for its new office building. The company is boosting its presence in Dubai to target the oil services business in what is termed in the energy industry as “eastern hemisphere'' and includes the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Halliburton expects most of its new business to come from national oil companies that control oilfields in these regions. In 2006, 38 per cent of its revenues came from the eastern hemisphere. Lesar said the target is to grow that business to 50 per cent of the total in the coming years.

The company will hire 6,000 people in the eastern hemisphere out of a total 14,000 it is hiring this year.