Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Halliburton, BP and Russian Black Gold

History of Halliburton and TNK

In January, 1994, the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) financed a $279m contract in which Halliburton Energy Services supplied oil drilling equipment to Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) for crude petroleum production in Samotlor. This contract (AP067280) was reported differently in the 1994 Ex-Im annual report, which described this as a $266.3m guarantee in which IRI International was to sell oil drilling equipment to Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, a subsidiary of Tyumen Oil.

Also in 1994, Dick Cheney, allegedly on a fishing trip with Halliburton CEO Thomas H. Cruikshank, and other captains of industry in New Brunswick, was asked if he would be willing to become Halliburton's CEO. Vice President Cheney then became Halliburton CEO from 1995 – 2000. The company's revenues rose from $5.7bn in 1994 to $14.9bn in 1999. "You’ve got to go where the oil is," he said.