Halliburton, Deepwater Horizon Relationship Revealed After Company Pleads Guilty to Destroying Evidence
Halliburton Energy Services reached an agreement with the U.S. government and will plead guilty to destroying evidence in connection with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill, the Department of Justice announced Thursday.
Federal officials said in a news release that the government is charging Halliburton with one count of destruction of evidence with the charges be filed in federal court in Louisiana.
As part of the agreement Halliburton will pay the maximum fine, be on probation for three years and continue to cooperate with the government's criminal investigation, according to reports. An exact amount for the fine was not disclosed.
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The Houston-based company has also made a $55 million voluntary contribution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which was not a condition of the court agreement, the press release added.
Halliburton was BP's cement contractor on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The blowout triggered an explosion that killed 11 workers and spilled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf.
Transocean showed evidence against BP revealing the oil giant failed to "properly assess, manage and communicate risk to its contractors." Test results were also destroyed by Halliburton that revealed that cement used for the well was deficient.
"For example, it did not properly communicate to the drill crew the absence of adequate testing on the cement or the uncertainty surrounding critical tests and procedures used to confirm the integrity of the barriers intended to inhibit the flow of hydrocarbons into the well," court documents revealed.
The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and continuously erupted oil from the sea floor every day until it was capped on July 15, 2010.
In those four months, approximately 4.9 million barrels of oil polluted the ocean.
The Natural Resources Defense Council reports that the catastrophe resulted in severe, long-term environmental damage of the Gulf of Mexico.
The spill was the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
