More than warPerhaps no contemporary company is so connected to government as Halliburton. It’s been in the news a lot for its dealings in war-torn countries. But military contracting is hardly the foundation of this Texas-based business. Its core operations are energy projects, including construction and maintenance of oil rigs and natural-gas facilities. In fact, Halliburton’s hand can be found in the energy industry from start to finish, from exploration and extraction to operation, management, and abandonment of oil and natural gas reserves both on land and under the sea.
More than 100,000 Halliburton employees work in over 120 countries. Under the parent company, there are five segments across two main divisions. The Energy Services Group is made up of business segments for drilling and formative evaluation, fluids, production optimization, and landmark and other energy services. Subsidiaries in this group include Landmark Graphics Corporation, Wellstream and the joint venture companies Enventure, Well Dynamics and Subsea 7. Then there’s Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), the engineering and construction division that’s responsible for building pipelines and production facilities, among other things. KBR employs more than 60,000 people in 43 countries. It includes two distinct divisions: Energy & Chemicals and Government & Infrastructure. The former provides cutting-edge engineering, procurement, construction and technology capabilities, concentrating on upstream and downstream markets. The latter is one of the largest government logistics and services contractors in the world.
Midwest foundations
In 1919, after he was fired for talking back to his boss, Erle Halliburton set up his own business, the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company, in Oklahoma. He had come up with a novel way to fortify the walls of oil wells, which would cut the risk of explosions and contamination of ground water. He lined the wells with steel pipes, which he caked with cement for even more strength. By patenting his method, Halliburton ensured that safety-conscious oil companies would have to hire him to line their wells.
At around the same time, as the U.S. entered the roaring 1920s, George and Herman Brown, along with their brother-in-law, Dan Root, were starting up their own general contracting company in Texas. By the time George passed away in the early 1960s, the company had also forayed into road construction and had built the world’s first offshore oil platform. In 1962, after Halliburton had also died, the company he founded bought Brown & Root. Dresser Industries and MW Kellogg, other major Halliburton acquisitions, had already come of age during the country’s first oil boom of the late 1800s.
Far-reaching resources
By the time the oil business spurted again in the 1970s, Halliburton had acquired all these companies, helping it diversify its portfolio and putting it ahead in the industry. This, along with unfortunate but necessary slashes in its workforce, helped the company stay alive when the industry tanked in 1982. In the 1990s, Halliburton took its global reach further than ever, expanding into Russia, China, India and Asia with new acquisitions and joint ventures. In 1993, the company started restructuring toward its current shape, which merged all divisions under one parent company.
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