Halliburton's KBR unit gets contract to repair Gulf Coast facilities - 2005-09-06

Halliburton Co.'s Kellogg Brown & Root subsidiary has begun work on a $500 million U.S. Navy contract for emergency repairs at Gulf Coast naval and marine facilities that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, according to an Associated Press report.

KBR has been under fire for receiving a five-year, no-bid contract to restore Iraqi oil fields shortly before the U.S. went to war against Iraq in 2003.

The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc. of Arlington, Va., won the competitive-bid contract last July to provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters.

Jan Davis, a spokeswoman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, told AP that KBR will receive $12 million for work at Naval Air Station Pascagoula, Naval Station Gulfport and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The company will receive $4.6 million for work at two smaller Navy facilities in New Orleans and others in the South.

KBR has provided similar work after major disasters in the United States and abroad for more than 15 years, including in Florida after Hurricane Andrew.

AP added that Houston-based Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) has reported being paid $10.7 billion for Iraq-related government work during 2003 and 2004. Pentagon auditors have questioned tens of millions of dollars of Halliburton charges for its operations there.