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The Nigerian government has lifted a two-year old ban on a local subsidiary of oil services company Halliburton Co. (HAL) (HAL), after radioactive materials stolen last year were found and returned to Nigeria, Punch newspaper reported Tuesday.
LAGOS -(Dow Jones)- The Nigerian government has lifted a two-year old ban on a local subsidiary of oil services company Halliburton Co. (HAL) (HAL), after radioactive materials stolen last year were found and returned to Nigeria, Punch newspaper reported Tuesday.
The government banned Halliburton (HAL) from bidding for contracts in Nigeria's oil and gas industry after the radioactive materials, which are used in the oil industry but could also be used to make a bomb, were stolen from the country in 2003.
Halliburton Energy Services (HAL) Nigeria Ltd., the local unit of Halliburton (HAL), imported the radioactive materials in 2002.
Punch quoted Shamsideen Elegba, director-general of Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority, as saying that the radioactive materials stolen from Halliburton (HAL) were exported from the country as scrap metal.
The materials were traced to Germany, sent to the U.S. and then returned to Nigeria and those who stole the materials were tracked down, Elegba said.
-By Vincent Nwanma, Dow Jones Newswires; +234-1-723-3156; vinwanma@ beta.linkserve.com