Halliburton Moves
At first sight, the relocation of Halliburton headquarters to Dubai looks like the company's radical reorganization, to which leaders of world business resort from time to time, all of them. Mathematically-calibrated calculation underlies the restructuring which takes into account all factors defined as 'production costs' by economists. There are many
fascinating pages in the history of the expansion of multinational corporations. They tell about CEOs gifted with flexibility and strategic vision, who would suddenly break old business patterns, because they saw that their companies needed to go forward, sometimes to the back of beyond, to risk and open new sectors for business, in order to keep their positions at the market.
If we follow this logic, then Halliburton is now doing what many other companies did before; and not only energy companies, but also metallurgic, car-building, computer-producing ones, those making household appliances, and others. However, Halliburton's official explanation claiming that the Middle East was chosen as the company's priority region due to its hydrocarbon reserves, to which the company wants to be as close as possible, is a very general one. This explanation is definitely aimed at covering up the real inner history of the castling started by Halliburton. Meanwhile, the castling includes factors of big politics.
Moreover, the overall situation looks paradoxic. Halliburton's announcement seems to be contradicting the widely-advertised energy strategy of President Bush. The strategy amounts to maximally reducing US dependence of the politically-risky Middle East, and to reorienting to other energy resources by processing everything down to peat and dried grass. Thus, Halliburton, close to the Bush administration, seems to be contradicting this very administration by its actions. George Bush is calling on the U.S. not to be staking on the Middle East with its bin Ladens as tie-ins to oil and natural gas, while Halliburton is placing its stakes there. Apparently, the company is not very willing to process peat. So, where is the logic?
Yet, in reality everything is quite logical. The fact that a not just regular US company, but a company close to the Bush administration moved to the Middle East, while other US companies did not do so, although they can count money too, is very logical. It is amazing how Halliburton's energy expansion strategy in the Middle East coincides with the US democratic expansion strategy in the region within the framework of the so-called 'Grand Strategy for the Middle East'.
Thus, the distribution of roles is such: the White House protects the political space of the Middle East, after which its energy flagship Halliburton takes up the matter. The specialization is quite typical of a new-style multinational corporation which needs not only competent economists, but also those in with authorities, among its employees.
Sergei Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 13, 2007
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