Dubai: US oil services firm Halliburton's announcement that it will move its corporate headquarters to Dubai has drawn criticism in America.
Halliburton said it would maintain its legal registration in the US and was not leaving Houston, where it is currently based.
"My office will be in Dubai, and I will run our entire worldwide operations from that office," Chief Executive David Lesar said at an energy conference in Bahrain on Sunday.
It sparked fears of US job losses and that the company would entirely leave its home territory.
"This is an insult to the US soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges for all these years," said Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat.
However, Peter Ross of London-based consultancy Wimbledon Energy told Gulf News the company, once run by US Vice President Dick Cheney, is going to ignore political criticism.
"Halliburton has a skin so thick that it makes a camel's skin feel like silk," he said.
- With additional inputs from Reuters
