All the clever tricks of the American Halliburton on trade with Russia
Despite having announced the cessation of activities, Halliburton does not give up trading in oil machinery with Russia. Here's what the Guardian found
Despite the cessation of activities in the country, the analysis of customs data shows that Russia still imported machinery made by Halliburton – one of the most important US companies providing services to the oil industry – for a total value of over 7 million dollars .
THE GUARDIAN 'S DISCOVERY
On September 8, 2022, Halliburton announced that it had completed the closure of its operations in Russia, which had invaded Ukraine on February 24 of that year. By analyzing Russian customs records, however, the Guardian discovered that in the six weeks following the sale of the business , some Halliburton subsidiaries exported equipment worth $5.7 million to the country. The products were shipped mainly from the United States and Singapore, but also came from the United Kingdom, France and Belgium.
DOES HALLIBURTON SUPPLIES GAZPROM?
Most exports by Halliburton subsidiaries ended on October 6. However, a delivery attributable to one of these companies, Halliburton MFG, was dated October 24, had a value of $2.9 million, came from Malaysia and was addressed to Sakhalin Energy, a consortium involved in the development of the oil & gas project Sakhalin-2 of which Gazprom – the Russian state gas company – is a shareholder. The British oil company Shell was also involved in the project, but abandoned it after the invasion of Ukraine.
After a pause, Russian imports of Halliburton machinery – such as pumps and drilling wrenches – resumed in December 2022; The products were imported from Türkiye. In general, the interchange continued until the end of last June.
Almost all – 98 percent – of Halliburton's exports to Russia were delivered to BurService, successor to the American company's Russian operations. Among BurService's customers are Gazprom and the Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil .
THE ACCUSATION OF THE AMERICAN SENATE
A few weeks ago, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez, wrote a letter to Halliburton and two other American oilfield services companies (Baker Hughes and SLB) following the publication of journalistic investigations into their business relationships with Russia. The senator accused these companies of being more interested in profit than solidarity with the attacked Ukraine.
The oil industry is crucial to Russia's state coffers and, indirectly, to the financing of the army and aggression against Ukraine.
HALLIBURTON'S PROFITS
Speaking of profit, Halliburton – formerly led by former US vice president Dick Cheney – reported a gross profit of $4 billion in the year ended June 30: a 63.1 percent year-on-year increase despite the amortization of 300 million for the sale of the Russian business .
Baker Hughes sold its Russian oil services unit nine months after the invasion of Ukraine began. SLB announced only last July that it would stop technology exports to Russia. There is no evidence to suggest that these companies have violated US or European sanctions.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/halliburton-commercio-russia/ on Mon, 18 Sep 2023 14:19:47 +0000.