Halliburton gets Gulf spill bill from BP

BP has called on contractor Halliburton to help to pay the costs and expenses it incurred to clean up the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which the oil major has put at around £27bn.

Halliburton, the company that cemented the doomed well, had asked a court to force BP to recognise a contractual agreement that protected Halliburton against possible spill clean-up costs.

In response, BP asked a court in a filing on Monday not to give a summary judgment on that request – one that would hand down a ruling without a full trial being held and could let Halliburton off the hook for a share of the total spill costs.

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BP restated a claim against Halliburton, first made in an April 2011 filing with the court, that Halliburton should pay it damages “equal to, or in the alternative proportional to Halliburton’s fault,” to cover clean up costs and government fines BP might faces.

Halliburton officials were not immediately available for comment. BP declined to comment.

Its filing of legal papers came in advance of hearings on a collection of lawsuits which are set to begin in New Orleans on February 27.

The “multi-district litigation” is expected to decide who will compensate those hurt by the spill, the extent of government fines and who will be remembered as the negligent party.

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BP has said it is ready to settle with its contractors, the parties who have suffered property and other damage, and the government, but not at any cost.

If the company reaches a settlement, it will be one of the largest in United States corporate history.

The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010, which killed 11 workers and emptied more than four million barrels of oil into the Gulf, has sparked a barrage of lawsuits and federal citations against the companies involved.

BP had been paying the costs of the response effort alone but Europe’s second-largest oil group has now reached deals with its two partners in the doomed Macondo well, Anadarko and Mitsui.

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The two companies at first rejected responsibility to contribute to oil spill bill, saying BP’s was negligent.

Last month, Cameron International Corp, which made the blowout preventer that failed to seal off the blown-out well, agreed a £160m settlement with BP to help pay for costs associated with the spill. Settlement agreements with two remaining parties, Halliburton and Transocean, have proved elusive.

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