WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (HalliburtonWatch.org) -- As of August 2004, nearly half of Iraq's oil was exported to the United States, according to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) statistics and news reports.

In August, Iraq exported 816,000 barrels of oil per day to the United States, or 45 percent of the 1.8 million barrels in daily exports by the war-torn nation. This represents a 553 percent increase from the same month last year when only 125,000 barrels were exported to the United States each day.

The most recent oil import information from the DOE is from August 2004.

Halliburton's KBR subsidiary plays a major role in keeping Iraq's oil flowing to the United States. The company reconstructs Iraq's oil industry through its controversial no-bid contract with the U.S. military, known as Restore Iraqi Oil, or RIO.

KBR is also involved in repairing the pipelines and other oil facilities that come under attack by Iraqis resisting the U.S. occupation. Iraq's oil pipelines were attacked 130 times over the seven-month period ending in July.

Although the military claims it terminated the no-bid RIO contract in response to accusations that Halliburton was unfairly favored in the contracting process, the company continues to profit under RIO and remains the primary contractor for repairing Iraq's dilapidated oil infrastructure.

Meanwhile, new evidence shows that Halliburton received 60 percent of Iraq's oil revenues during the period when the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority was in control from May 2003 through June 2004.