Hunt Oil Co president, Ray L. Hunt, on board at Halliburton, also key fundraiser for Bush

Texas’ Hunt Oil Co. and Kurdistan’s regional government said they have signed a production-sharing contract for petroleum exploration in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, the first such deal since the Kurds passed their own oil and gas law in August.

A Hunt subsidiary, Hunt Oil Co. of the Kurdistan Region, will begin geological survey and seismic work by the end of 2007 and hopes to drill an exploration well in 2008, the parties said in a news release Saturday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hunt is a privately-held independent oil company based in Dallas, Texas. A third partner, Impulse Energy Corp., also has a stake in the project.

Ray L Hunt, who has been a member on the board of Halliburton since 1998, has been a key fundraiser for President George W. Bush, who named him to the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

Open Secrets (opensecrets.org) shows Hunt Consolidated, Ray L and his wife, Nancy, at #33 of top 2004 election contributors, giving $277,984 solidly to Rebublicans.