Oil is slick stuff. The oil business can be even slicker. And within the industry, Houston-based Weatherford International may be the slipperiest of all.
According to Fortune Magazine, the oil giant is drilling in Sudan, despite the fact that the US Congress has prohibited American companies from transacting with the war-ravaged country’s oil industry and the Texas State Legislature has voted to pull pension funds from companies operating in Sudan.
But apparently Weatherford has found a loophole. Company representatives say the Sudan operation reports directly and exclusively to its foreign subsidiary in Dubai, thereby skirting around the prohibitions.
Forget all the moral and ethical implications, let alone the spirit of US law. Weatherford is a public company, responsible for turning a profit. And apparently they’ll do anything to live up to that responsibility. – Chris Vogel
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2007.
