DUNCAN, Okla. (AP) - Officials with Halliburton Co. say about 150 jobs at the Halliburton Technology Center in Duncan will be moved to Houston during the next two years.
Halliburton spokeswoman Diana Gabriel said Wednesday that the move is part of a plan to consolidate operations at company headquarters in Houston.
Currently, there are approximately 400 people employed at the tech center. Gabriel said Halliburton has no plans to move the remaining 250 or to reduce employee activity at the adjacent Halliburton manufacturing center in Duncan.
"The remaining 250 employees at the tech center will not be affected by the transition," she said.
Notices started going out Wednesday to some employees whose jobs will be affected. Others will receive notices as the process continues through 2012.
Gabriel said the "partial facility transition" represents part of Halliburton's plan to consolidate operations in Houston.
The Duncan employees, representing a mix of professionals including chemists and engineers, will be relocated to a new research-and-development facility on Halliburton's 94-acre North Belt campus in Houston, which will also be the corporate headquarters location.
"It's a state-of-the-art facility and it makes sense to have experts in that location," Gabriel said.
Duncan Area Economic Development Foundation President Lyle Roggow said Halliburton's announcement was disappointing but not totally unexpected.
He said the foundation would continue to pursue new industry to give oil-and-gas professionals and others in the area with unique skill sets opportunities to live and earn good paychecks in Stephens County.
Halliburton was founded by Erle P. Halliburton in 1919 in Duncan. It has evolved into one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the oil and gas industry, employing more than 50,000 people in nearly 70 countries.
The company relocated its corporate headquarters to Houston in 2003 from Dallas, where it had been located since 1961.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
