Halliburton completes work in Iran

Oil field services provider Halliburton Co., which announced in 2005 it would accept no new contracts in Iran but would honor existing agreements, said on Apr. 9 it has completed all contractual commitments and is no longer working in the Middle Eastern country. Halliburton said it was cooperating with the federal government's "ongoing investigation" of its business in Iran. Since responding to a grand jury subpoena seeking documents in the fall of 2004, the company said it has had no further inquiries from the Justice Department. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), a longtime critic of Halliburton's operation in Iran, recently introduced legislation to deter subsidiaries of US-controlled companies from doing business in Iran. Lautenberg's measure, included in a larger bill on Iran, would strengthen existing sanction provisions that prohibit US companies from conducting business with nations that sponsor terrorism. Lautenberg has said some US companies have exploited a loophole in the law by creating foreign subsidiaries that are incorporated overseas for the specific purpose of bypassing US sanctions. He cites Halliburton as an example. "Halliburton had to be dragged kicking and screaming out of Iran," Lautenberg said. "If Halliburton wasn't pressured by Congress, they would still be doing business in Iran." Already, Halliburton and its KBR Inc. division have been lightning rods for criticism because of KBR's more than $19 billion in Pentagon contracts to be the sole provider of food and shelter services to the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democrats in Congress have claimed KBR benefited from ties to Vice President Dick Cheney, who once led Halliburton.