Halliburton will maintain a corporate office in Houston, but the company will be controlled from its office in the United Arab Emirates, company spokeswoman Cathy Mann explained. "Halliburton is opening its corporate headquarters in Dubai while maintaining a corporate office in Houston," Ms. Mann said in an email to the Associated Press. "The chairman, president and CEO will office from and be based in Dubai to run the company from the UAE." She clarified "he will work from and his office will be in Dubai."

For a company that gets such a significant portion of its income from the US government, this is quite a stunning move, to say the least. Unless it means that they expect that this revenue stream will end soon - or that there is so little oil left in the USA that this is no longer where business will be? Or that it is suddenly becoming safer to stay away from US law enforcement authorities?

Last year, more than 38% of Halliburton's $13 billion oil field services revenue stemmed from sources in the eastern hemisphere, where the firm has 16,000 of its 45,000 global employees. Mr. Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995-2000 and the Bush administration has been accused of favoring the giant firm with lucrative no-bid contracts in Iraq. Federal investigators said last month that Halliburton was responsible for $2.7 billion of the $10 billion in contractor waste and overcharging in Iraq. Last month, Halliburton announced a 40% decline in fourth-quarter profit, despite heavy demand for its oil field equipment and personnel.

Yeah. Better stay away from these federal investigators.