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REFILE-UPDATE 1-Halliburton eyes Mideast listing, eastern growth
Updated: 1 hour, 4 minutes ago
MANAMA - U.S. oilfield service giant Halliburton is considering listing its shares on one of the Middle East bourses as it looks at growth potential in the eastern hemisphere, the firm's chief executive said on Sunday.

"One of the things that we would like to pursue... is a listing of our shares in the Middle East," David Lesar said on the sidelines of an energy event in Bahrain. Halliburton has not yet decided in which country it would list its shares.

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"At this point in time we clearly see there are greater opportunities in the eastern hemisphere than the western hemisphere," he told reporters.

Halliburton would spend a large part of its $1.4 billion investment budget for the year in the Middle East, he said.

Oil and gas service companies have hiked prices for their services over the past two years as the energy sector strains to bring on line enough capacity to meet rapidly rising demand.

Many of the new supply projects are in the oil producing countries of the Middle East, while Asia accounts for most of the rising demand.

In contrast, a slide in natural gas prices in the United States has prompted investor concern that oil and gas companies might cut back on spending in North America.

Halliburton has long been involved in the Middle East energy sector.

KBR Inc., the engineering and military-services contractor unit that Halliburton recently spun off, is the Pentagon's largest contractor in Iraq. The company has faced several investigations into alleged overbilling there, as well as for its links to Iran, where U.S. companies are forbidden from operating.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was head of the company from 1995-2000.


CEO MOVES TO DUBAI

Lesar said he would move his office to Dubai as the company focused on the region for future growth.

Halliburton's global headquarters would remain in Houston, another company executive said.

"My office will be in Dubai and I will run our entire worldwide operations from that office," Lesar said. "Dubai is a great business centre."

Lesar said he expected the price of oil to stay above $40 a barrel, providing good conditions for future investment in the oil and gas industry.