Halliburton CEO on withdrawing from Russia: 'We have employees in both Ukraine and Russia, and the conflict greatly impacts our people, their families and loved ones'

Halliburton is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Houston that is one of the biggest oil field service companies in the world. The company employs more than 50,000 people and carries out business in over 70 nations. 

The company recently announced it will withdraw from Russia, citing "sadness" pertaining to the people being impacted. The company's withdrawal from Russia was established on March 18. Conversely, the company has continued doing business in China for years and more recently in the Xinjiang province, which has been long connected with human rights abuses against the Uyghurs. 

Halliburton has longstanding ties in China, first providing oil supplies there in 1984. The company's operations in Asia dramatically expanded in 2012, including in China. 

“The war in Ukraine deeply saddens us," Halliburton Chairman, President and CEO Jeff Miller said in a press release on March 18. "We have employees in both Ukraine and Russia, and the conflict greatly impacts our people, their families and loved ones throughout the region. Since the start of this conflict, we prioritized employee safety and compliance with all relevant sanctions. The conflict greatly impacts our people, their families and loved ones throughout the region." 

Meanwhile, operations continue to take place in China.

"Signed an agreement with the SPT Energy Group Inc. affiliate, Petrotech (Xinjiang) Engineering Co., Ltd., to establish a joint venture company focused on hydraulic fracturing and production enhancement services in Xinjiang, China," a Halliburton press release from June 11, 2014, stated. "The new company, Xinjiang HDTD Oilfield Services Co. Ltd., will provide fracture stimulation services, including design and analysis, data acquisition and pumping and chemical services in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This is Halliburton’s first joint venture for hydraulic fracturing services in China."

Halliburton's leadership thought highly of their moves in China.

“Halliburton looks forward to strengthening our partnership with SPT Energy Group by bringing a suite of integrated, comprehensive solutions to the challenge of developing China’s unconventional reservoirs," former Halliburton President and CEO Dave Lesar said in June 2014. "Our basin-specific knowledge, industry-leading technologies and expert people have solved unconventional challenges around the world, and we are excited about growing our presence in China.”

David Zeng, Halliburton’s vice president for China, was also optimistic.

“Over the next decade there will be great opportunities from the parallel development of conventional and unconventional resources in China," Zeng said in June 2014. "SPT’s strong client relationships combined with Halliburton’s technical expertise positions Xinjiang HDTD to be the leading service provider as we develop westward.”

A Halliburton financial report from Jan. 24 noted growth in Asia, spurred by higher sales and better services and project management.

"Middle East/Asia revenue in the fourth quarter of 2021 was $1.1 billion, a 16% increase sequentially, resulting from higher completion tool sales and wireline activity across the region, improved well construction services in Saudi Arabia and Oman, higher software sales in Kuwait and China, improved project management activity in India, and increased stimulation activity throughout Asia," the report said. 

Halliburton has been singled out as a business still operating in the Xinjiang region. A congressional report entitled "China's Repression and Internment of Uyghurs: U.S. Policy Responses" was released on Sept. 26, 2018, and called for U.S. companies in the region to be investigated. The report cited Halliburton as a company with investments in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region and recommended that the Congressional Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific "investigate the relationship of U.S.-invested development projects with Chinese state entities implementing extra-legal 'de-extremification' measures and that other countries should be urged to pursue similar measures," and wanted other nations to be encouraged to do the same. 

The report detailed human rights abuses going on in the region, alleged to be carried out by the Chinese Communist Party. The number of people being impacted is reported to be in the millions, with some experts concerned about the possibility of genocide. 

"Over a million, and possibly more, Uyghurs have been interned out of a population of 11 million," the report said. "Credible reports of deaths in custody, torture and systemic political indoctrination must propel the United States into action on behalf of the Uyghurs. In the words of scholar Rian Thum, 'Mass murder and genocide do not look like impossible outcomes.'"

Political activism by Uyghurs is also being suppressed by China, particularly environmental activism, according to an August 2016 report from the Uyghur Human Rights Project. Halliburton is believed to be causing environmental damage to the region that the Uyghurs have no political voice to prevent.