Dallas firm hopes good will also greases wheels of energy business

07:32 AM CDT on Thursday, April 13, 2006

By GARY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News

The Dallas Cup is internationally known for its competitive youth soccer and for promoting good will among nations.

Iraq's under-14 national team has scored on both fronts this week. The club won its first three games, advancing to today's quarterfinals. And the players have charmed the Texas families hosting them.

But there is a subtext to their visit. A usually low-profile Dallas company, with a family link to legendary Texas oilman H.L. Hunt, is striving to earn a role in developing Iraq's immense energy reserves.

Privately held Hyperion Resources, which has helped train Iraqi oil workers for the last two years, is paying most of the cost – in excess of $100,000, Hyperion's chairman says – for the Iraqi team's trip to America. The company's Baghdad consultant helped the team navigate tough U.S. visa requirements and traveled with the team to Dallas.

Once here, Hyperion treated the team and host families to a Mavericks game in two suites at American Airlines Center. It hired a video production company to tape – with four cameras and a portable boom – every Iraq game. The aim is to show the games on Iraqi television.

And after the tournament, which features more than 180 teams from around the world, Hyperion has arranged for the Iraqi club to go sightseeing in Washington, D.C. Included are tours of the White House and the Capitol. The video production company plans to be there, too.

Albert Huddleston, Hyperion's chairman, said that when he got the idea last fall to bring the Iraq national team to the Dallas Cup, he wanted to do something good to improve relations between the two countries. He has been to Iraq several times since his company began working there.

MELANIE BURFORD/DMN

Aaron Reifschneider (left) and Dallas Texans 92 Red teammate Blake Wise celebrate a goal during an X-Box soccer game against Iraqis Tahssein Khedar (far left) Mohammed Jabar and Hassan Hameed (far right).

"You can make a difference in the lives of people where you do business," he said. "They are not mutually exclusive."

Mr. Huddleston, a son-in-law of Bunker Hunt, one of H.L.'s sons, said he would prefer that Hyperion remain behind the scenes but acknowledged that the Iraqi team's visit has generated more attention than he anticipated.

He hopes the goodwill message of the team's trip won't get smudged by his company's commercial interests. But, at the same time, he said there is "no question" that Hyperion wants to work in Iraq and show that the company is "as good or better than anybody" who wants to do business there.

Hyperion, founded in 1990, currently operates primarily in North America.

While the company has maintained a low profile, Mr. Huddleston has not. He said he considers himself a political independent but acknowledged that most of his contributions have gone to Republican candidates and causes, including the so-called swift boat campaign against John Kerry in the last presidential election. He has also fought against the state's school funding plan and for environmental causes, including the preservation of Caddo Lake.

Asked how much Hyperion is spending on the Iraqi team's trip to Dallas, Mr. Huddleston said: "When I thought of doing this, I expected it to be in excess of $100,000, and I succeeded."

Dallas Protocol, a public-private partnership between the World Affairs Council of Dallas and the City of Dallas, is also spending between $15,000 and $20,000 on the Iraqi team's trip, according to director Casey Ballard. The money was left from a federal sister cities grant. The team visited Dallas City Hall on Wednesday.

Stories about the Iraqi team's visit have been picked up around the U.S. And it's one of the biggest ongoing sports stories in Iraq, said Husam Dhumed, an anchor for Alhurra TV who is doing daily reports from Dallas on the team. Alhurra is an Arabic-language network funded by the United States.

That interest is a testament to the popularity of soccer. It's a common language across the globe. In the Middle East, another common language is oil. And the potential prize in Iraq is huge.

Zaab Sethna, managing director of Global Positioning, a consulting firm working with Hyperion, says Iraq's oil reserves, though high, are vastly underestimated because the nation's technology is old. He believes Iraq will eventually prove to have the largest oil reserves in the world and the lowest extraction costs.

MELANIE BURFORD/DMN

Blake Wise (left) tries to fight off defeat in an arm-wrestling match against Iraqi coach Mizher Al Hashimy at the Hotel Intercontinental.

Experts expect Iraq to open its energy development to foreign companies, perhaps as early as next year. Mr. Sethna, a Pakistani-American who lives in London, said Hyperion has developed good relations with Iraq oil officials and the government.

Three dozen oil companies have signed memoranda of understanding with Iraq, a prerequisite to doing business in the country, Mr. Sethna said. "Thirty-five of them are household names like Exxon-Mobil," he said. "The one non-household name is Hyperion."

High-risk, high-reward business is familiar to Mr. Huddleston and his relatives. H.L. Hunt, of course, helped develop the giant East Texas oil field. Bunker Hunt had a large concession in Libya before Moammar Gadhafi nationalized the holdings. Ray Hunt, another son of H.L., developed Yemen.

Associates close to Mr. Huddleston call him fiercely independent. He is related to the Hunt family, but his business dealings are his own.

"They're the Huddlestons, they're not the Hunts," said Gary Brigham, a finance expert who has worked with Mr. Huddleston for 20 years. "They don't play on the Hunt part, ever."

Mr. Brigham said he was in Iraq with Mr. Huddleston as recently as last month. He said that while the major oil companies are trying for a foothold there by courting officials in Washington, D.C., Hyperion is trying to establish its credibility on the ground in Iraq, wearing flak jackets and helmets if necessary.

MELANIE BURFORD/DMN

Hassan Hameed from the Iraqi team cheers on the Dallas Texans 92 Red at Richland College in Dallas.

"What's great about this tournament is that when it's over, 18 kids and six adults will go back to Iraq and tell them what it's really like in America," Mr. Brigham said while attending one of the team's games this week.

Several Hyperion employees, including Gordon Huddleston, Albert's 23-year-old son, have accompanied the Iraqi team to practices and games. They have given equipment bags, game jerseys and soccer balls – all with the Hyperion name – to the players.

Preston Phillips normally works on new business development for Mr. Huddleston. This week his challenges have been a little unusual. They included arranging trips to the emergency room for players – a sore throat, a sore back and a cough – and ordering takeout from his cell phone after a hot midday practice at Parkhill Junior High in Far North Dallas.

"We need 18 burgers, doubles, well-done, without cheese," he was heard telling the restaurant on the phone.

And how did the kids like the burgers?

"They loved them," he said later. "I probably should have ordered cheese, too."

E-mail gjacobson@dallasnews.com.com