Mr. Halliburton Goes To Iran

This is Halliburton. They can do anything they fuggin' want. CBSMarketWatch (01.11.05):

"Halliburton, under investigation for its operations in Iran, is set to begin oilfield services work in that country as a subcontractor for Oriental Kish, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said that she did not know the value of the contract and noted that Oriental had won the contract, not Halliburton. 'Halliburton's business is clearly permissible under applicable U.S. laws and regulations,' Hall said. 'Also, we are in the service business, not the foreign-policy business. We have followed and will continue to follow applicable laws.'" Emphasis supplied. Halliburton set to begin work in Iran

The 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act supposedly severely restricts U.S. companies from doing business with and in Iran. However, "separately incorporated foreign subsidiaries" are not considered as U.S. companies for purposes of the statute and any applicable executive orders. Because this Halliburton subsidiary is registered in the Cayman Islands as Halliburton Products and Services, it is exempt. As the Teheran Times notes, "Halliburton is the first American company (to have) participated in Iran’s oil and gas sector since (the 1979) Islamic Revolution." The development area is known as the South Pars. It is a huge natural gas field in the Persian Gulf off the southern Iranian coast, and is shared by Iran and Qatar. Here's a real cool map (click on it). According to Pravda and Statoil, South Pars is believed to be the largest natural gas field in the world. It is estimated to hold 7% of the world's reserves and almost 40% percent of Iran's reserves. Consensus is that Iran has the world's second largest proven natural gas reserves after Russia. Here's a bunch of other stuff about the field from Total. Yep, the same guys who have gas stations all over. You might know them as Fina. Beauty, eh?