Halliburton is and American oil field service company, that operates in more than 80 countries across the globe; making them one of the largest in their industry. Located in Houston, Texas with a second headquarters operating out of Dubai, Halliburton employs over 100,000 people worldwide and has many subsidiaries and divisions in a variety of other fields. This massive company sees billions of dollars in revenue each year and is extremely powerful, however there is a fair amount of controversy and corruption surrounding Halliburton as well. In this article, we are going to get into 5 things you didn’t know about this massive oil conglomerate.
5. Dick Cheney used to be the CEO
Former Vice President Dick Cheney served as the CEO and Chairman of The Board of Executives for Halliburton between the years 1995 and 2000. In the early 1990’s Cheney left working for the Department of Defense and went on board with Halliburton to run the company for five years. Much of Dick Cheney’s net worth is attributed to the time he spent with Halliburton.
4. They have suspicious connections with the Iraq War
Senator Rand Paul has recently criticized Dick Cheney saying that Cheney pushed heavily for the Iraq War to indirectly and directly benefit Halliburton and himself. While Cheney was Vice President, he received large amounts of money from Halliburton to push legislature in their favor. In the times leading up to and during the Iraq War, Halliburton received a $7 Billion dollar contract to work in Iraq, and as most people know, Iraq is filled with oil fields. Halliburton has been criticized by many for receiving “special” work and contracts in Iraq and for overcharging the Federal Government for their services.
3. They were involved with the Deepwater Horizon Disaster
In 2010 one of the worst oil disasters occurred in the Gulf of Mexico when a B.P. oil rig exploded and killed 11 people. Oil then spewed into the Gulf for weeks, making it the worst oil spill in history and the worst environmental disaster ever in America. BP released an internal report about the situation and cited that poor practices and carelessness of the Halliburton staff on-board the oil rig were what lead to the disaster. It was Halliburton’s unstable cement that caused an oil leakage and the eventual explosion of the rig. Halliburton was also found guilty of covering up their actions and destroying incriminating evidence of their involvement with the spill.
2. They Nigerian government accused Halliburton, Cheney, and a from subsidiary of corruption
In 2010, the Nigerian government accused Halliburton, Cheney, and its former subsidiary, KBR, with bribing the Nigerian government for a $182 million dollar joint venture contract to build a natural gas facility in Nigeria. KBR eventually admitted that it did in fact bribe the government and paid a $402 million dollar fine. Halliburton also paid a $177 million dollar fine, however they did not admit any fault. The Nigerian government then dropped the case when they settled with Halliburton and Cheney, with Halliburton awarding them $250 million dollars.
1. Many of their subsidiaries are headquartered in tax haven countries
Despite seeing billions of dollars in profit over the years, Halliburton has many of its subsidiaries located in tax haven countries such as the Cayman Islands, which have a 0% corporate tax rate, allowing them to save vast sums of money. This has lead to Halliburton receiving large amounts of criticism for being “un-American” as they do not pay their fair share of taxes like other American based companies. Some economists argue that, while tax haven’s are good for the company, they are not good for the nation as a whole.
Photo by Ronald Martinez
