The news that Energy Transfer Equity plans to move corporate headquarters to Dallas once its merger with Tulsa-based Williams Cos. is completed wasn’t well received by U.S. Senator James Lankford on Thursday.
“I’m exceptionally disappointed in Energy Transfer to move all of the jobs when all of their initial reports were they would keep all of the jobs at least in Tulsa and they were gonna look at Oklahoma City,” said the Senator in an interview with OK Energy Today.
He was caught off guard just as Tulsa City leaders were in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier in the week by ETE.
“We have experienced it before with the other companies purchasing Oklahoma companies then moving a lot of their corporate operations and day-to-day business operations out of the state,” added Sen. Lankford. “We have seen what that means to Oklahoma when it happens.”
Such historical purchases that meant a lot of corporate headquarters in Oklahoma included Anadarko Petroleum’s purchase of Kerr McGee; Conoco’s merging with Conoco-Phillips; Halliburton’s decision to leave Duncan where it was founded and relocated to Houston, Texas; Noble Energy moved from Ardmore to Houston in 2000; and the decision in 1988 to move Reading and Bates Corp. from Tulsa to Houston.
Listen to some of his comments in an interview with Jerry Bohnen.