HOUSTON - Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) announced today that it has acquired all the intellectual property and assets of Protech Centerform in Houston, Texas; Ravenna, Italy; and Aberdeen, Scotland. Protech Centerform is the world's only provider of casing centralization that uses a carbon fiber and ceramic composite compound applied directly to the casing, allowing for an enhanced cementing solution that can be engineered to any wellbore configuration.

Being able to effectively place and centralize casing within a wellbore enhances an operator's ability to achieve a successful cement job, resulting in zonal isolation and allowing for the maximum exploitation of the targeted production zone.  Protech Centerform's method of casing centralization is a step-change technology that addresses the challenges that are experienced in deepwater, slimhole, horizontal and high-pressure/high-temperature applications:

• Its carbon fiber and ceramic composite material can be injected into a mold and bonds directly to the casing, tubing or drillpipe surface, allowing for a fully customized product and installation.
• It can achieve centralization without additional devices such as stop collars, and adjust the number of contact points to meet our customers' most challenging well conditions.
• And because the composite material is more elastic than steel, the material used in traditional centralizers, problems associated with stiffness are dramatically reduced or eliminated altogether.

"As the leading provider of cementing solutions to the oil and gas industry worldwide, we are excited to add this premium offering to our already robust portfolio of casing technologies," said Thomas Roth, vice president of Halliburton's Cementing product service line. "Protech Centerform's centralization method can be quickly customized to meet our customers' most complicated applications, from small or large diameters to horizontal and deepwater wells. This acquisition enables us to provide our customers with a one-of-a-kind, field-proven casing centralization option that allows for increased design versatility while potentially reducing associated risk and overall project cost."

David King, president of Halliburton's Completion and Production Division, added: "The acquisition of Protech Centerform supports Halliburton's strategy of differentiating our product and service offerings through innovation and technology. This technology complements our continued development of engineered casing solutions to solve our customers' deepwater and high-pressure/high-temperature drilling and completion challenges."

Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the energy industry. With more than 50,000 employees in approximately 70 countries, the company serves the upstream oil and gas industry throughout the life cycle of the reservoir - from locating hydrocarbons and managing geological data, to drilling and formation evaluation, well construction and completion, and optimizing production through the life of the field. Visit the company's Web site at www.halliburton.com.