Halliburton's Dubai move sparks US political ire

[estranged4life]

The Oklahoman
March 13,2007

Few cheer Halliburton move
Residents of its ex-hometown voice dismay.

By Steve Lackmeyer
Business Writer

DUNCAN — Not too long ago, people speaking poorly of Halliburton in its birthplace likely would have requested anonymity, but now it's the company's defenders who are trying to stay unnoticed.

From 1921, when the company was moved to Duncan by founder Erle P. Halliburton, until its move to Dallas in 1961, Duncan was a Halliburton town. For years after, however, the company's presence remained with more than 4,100 on the local payroll through 1982. The work force was estimated at 2,200 last year, but that hasn't kept retirees, residents and merchants from concluding that Halliburton establishing a headquarters in Dubai is not the Halliburton they remember.

"This used to be a loyal Halliburton town,” Rosella McQuain said. "Now it's just ... blah. Erle P. is probably spinning in his grave. He's probably in China by now.”

McQuain and her husband, Bill, who worked for the company for 35 years, no longer are surprised by any news they hear about Halliburton.

"Whether they're moving for tax reasons or something else, who knows,” Bill McQuain said. "I just don't know what they're up to anymore.”

The news was not particularly endearing to residents of this former Halliburton headquarters town.

The divide in Duncan over Halliburton was evident last year when the company held its stockholders meeting here. Townsfolk still speak of the pastor fired by his church because he joined a protest against Halliburton's contracts in Iraq.

One defender, who wouldn't give his name Monday, said the company's decision to move its corporate headquarters won't result in major job transfers to the Middle East, and fits its history of maintaining smaller headquarters operations within each division. The man, accompanied by a woman described as a "Halliburton legacy” — someone who inherited stock — still lambasted Chief Executive Dave Lesar as someone who cannot be trusted.

At Duncan's Main Street office, director Tammy Johnson and Suzanne Britten, owner of the Antique Mall of Duncan, agreed Erle P. Halliburton never would have approved of Lesar's decision.

Johnson said she stopped doing her hair as the story was aired on the TV show "Good Morning America.”

"I was stunned,” Johnson said. "They had to put a notation in there that they wanted to explore oil possibilities in the Middle East. That right there just blew it out of the water. They're already doing that. But it also proves all these politics, that it's all about the oil.”

Britten said local attitudes about Halliburton changed gradually over two decades as it increasingly abandoned its hometown.

At The Grill cafe in downtown Duncan, retiree Bond Terry and wife, Mattie, took opposite sides on the move. Bond Terry, who worked for years at the company, defended the announcement as a good business decision. Mattie Terry questioned why the company had to relocate its headquarters at all.

Another patron, Roy Calbert, said "Halliburton has been ripping off the American public in the Middle East for a long time. And if they want to leave and give up their American citizenship, that would be fine with me.”