Halliburton (nyse: HAL) is a US-based oilfield services corporation with international operations in more than 70 countries.

It is based in 1401 McKinney Street in Downtown Houston, Texas, in the United States. U.S. office locations are also in Anchorage, Alaska; Bakersfield, California; Denver, Colorado; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Halliburton recently opened a second headquarters in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, in March 2007, where Chairman and CEO David J. Lesar will work and reside, "to Focus 1 Company's Eastern Hemisphere Growth." Corporate offices will remain in Houston and the company will remain incorporated in the United States. The company will consider Houston and Dubai as dual headquarters. Halliburton plans to move its headquarters to another site in Houston by 2012.Clanton, Brett. "Halliburton to consolidate in 2 locations." Houston Chronicle. April 3, 2009. Retrieved on April 3, 2009.

Halliburton's major business segment is the Energy Services Group (ESG). ESG provides technical products and services for oil and gas exploration and production.

Halliburton's former subsidiary, KBR, is a major construction company of refineries, oil fields, pipelines, and chemical plants. Halliburton announced on April 5, 2007 that it had finally broken ties with KBR, which had been its contracting, engineering and construction unit as a part of the company for 44 years.

Business overview

Energy Services, the company's historical cornerstone, includes drilling and formation evaluation, digital and consulting solutions, production volume optimization, and fluid systems. This business continues to be profitable, and the company is one of the world's largest players in this industry; Schlumberger is its closest competitor followed by Weatherford International, Tesco Corporation and Baker Hughes.

With the acquisition of Dresser Industries in 1998, the Kellogg-Brown & Root division (in 2002 renamed to KBR) was formed by merging Halliburton's Brown & Root (acquired 1962) subsidiary and the M.W. Kellogg division of Dresser (which Dresser had merged with in 1988). KBR is a major international construction company, which is a highly volatile undertaking subject to wild fluctuations in revenue and profit. Asbestos-related litigation from the Kellogg acquisition caused the company to book more than US$4.0 billion in losses from 2002 through 2004.

As a result of the asbestos-related costs and staggering losses on the Barracuda Caratinga FPSO construction project based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Halliburton lost approximately $900 million U.S. a year from 2002 through 2004. A final non-appealable settlement in the asbestos case was reached in January 2005 which allowed Halliburton subsidiary KBR to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy and returned the company to quarterly profitability. So, while Halliburton's revenues have increased because of its contracts in the Middle East, its bottom line continues to suffer.