Halliburton to expand Dubai hub

Halliburton to expand Dubai hub
By Ivan GaleStaff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: September 18, 2007, 23:50

Dubai: Halliburton said it would commit additional resources to its Dubai headquarters to target the more than $8 billion in oil services contracts expected in the eastern hemisphere over the next few years.

The US firm believes oil companies will award some 80 contracts in oil drilling services valued at $100 million or higher over the next three to four years in the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and Europe/Eurasia.

Houston-based Halliburton set up a second headquarters in Dubai last March to focus its efforts on the region. In April it also sold off its KBR subsidiary, which operated government contracts in Iraq.

"More and more and year after year, our investments are heading towards the eastern hemisphere," said Ahmad Lofty, regional senior vice-president, who recently relocated to Dubai.

"We have an extreme focus on the Middle East. Now we want to take on a bigger scope for the eastern hemisphere," he said during a tour of Halliburton's Jebel Ali facility yesterday.

To capitalise on the emerging opportunities, Lofty said the company was investing in a technology centre in India as well as manufacturing facilities in Malaysia and Singapore.

High oil prices have benefitted services firms like Halliburton. The rising prices have prompted oil companies to invest in once-unviable exploration techniques to secure more reserves of oil and gas, Halliburton officials said.

"We're always dreaming up the next biggest tool, and these tools become commercially viable when it's time," said Chip Miller, Middle East manager for the company's drilling services unit. "With oil prices at this level, it's time."

Halliburton's Jebel Ali facility, established in 1994, contains several repair stations that have cut down its regional response time by 35 per cent, according to the company. Earlier, damaged drilling equipment had to be sent to the UK, the US and Canada.

Now, 80 per cent of its product portfolio of drilling pulsers, sensors and other equipment can be repaired out of Dubai, and US repairs are often outsourced to Jebel Ali for completion, the company said.