Halliburton Deliberately Destroyed Gulf Oil Spill Evidence, BP Says

Petroleum giant BP has accused Halliburton Energy Services Inc., the U.S. and Dubai-based oilfield services corporation, of intentionally destroying crucial evidence related to the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to papers filed in federal court in New Orleans, BP said Halliburton tampered with evidence relating to problems with cement testing and failed to produce incriminating evidence based on computer modeling results, despite repeated court orders.

BP alleges that Halliburton lost critical computer modeling inputs and intentionally destroyed evidence about the quality of cement slurry that went into the exploded oil well, to protect its interests in the trial.

The April 20, 2010, explosion in the rig killed 11 people and injured 16 others working on the rig, as well as releasing 206 million gallons of crude oil in to the Gulf of Mexico.

A Halliburton spokeswoman denied the accusations.

Every contributing cause where Halliburton is named, the operational responsibility lies solely with BP. Halliburton remains confident that all the work we performed with respect to the ... well was completed in accordance with BP's specifications for its well construction plan and instructions, Zelma Branch told CNN.

BP and its two contractors, Halliburton and Transocean, are involved in a legal battle over the share of responsibility for the accident.