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Halliburton Closes Up Shop in Iran
As political tensions mount around Iran and rumors of war with the United States become more insistent, Halliburton announced Monday evening that it would stop providing services to oil production in Iran. The company announced in January 2005 that it would not sign any new contracts in that country but would continue to work under existing contracts.
The company noted at the time that its business in Iran did not violate U.S. legislation prohibiting U.S. companies from operating in Iran because it was working through a Dubai representative. The U.S. Justice Department has been investigating Halliburton since the autumn of 2004.
Halliburton says that it has completed all its contracts in Iran and will discontinue all business there. Observers say that Halliburton was operating in Iran only due to a loophole in American legislation and that it has been forced out of that country under pressure from politicians. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), a long-time critic of Halliburton, stated that the company “had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of Iran.''
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 11, 2007
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Photo: Dmitry Lebedev