BP accuses Halliburton over Gulf of Mexico oil spill

US contractor destroyed evidence about possible problems with cementing of Macondo well before disaster, allege court papers

The Deepwater Horizon blast, which killed 11 workers, led to the biggest oil spill in US history, which affected wildlife such as pelicans. Photograph: Sean Gardner/Reuters

BP has accused Halliburton of destroying damaging evidence relating to last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
In a court filing, BP has alleged that the US oil services firm of intentionally destroying evidence about possible problems with its cement slurry poured into the deep-sea Macondo well about 100 miles (160 km) off the Louisiana coast. An oil well must be cemented properly to avoid blowouts.
Also in the documents filed in a New Orleans federal court, BP accuses Halliburton of failing to produce incriminating computer modelling evidence.
BP asked a US judge to penalise Halliburton and order a court-sponsored computer forensic team to recover the modelling results.
Halliburton has told media outlets that the accusations are untrue.
The allegations in the 310-page motion add to a showdown among BP and the contractors Halliburton and Transocean over blame in the Deepwater Horizon blast in April 2010, which killed 11 workers and led to 206m US gallons (780m litres) of crude oil escaping into the Gulf of Mexico. So far, BP, the majority owner of the Macondo well, has footed the bill for the emergency response and cleanup.
Also involved are Anadarko Petroleum and Cameron International.  The first trial over the disaster is scheduled to start 27 February in New Orleans. It is expected to last three months and determine the liability of each company involved in drilling the Macondo well. There will be other phases over cleanup costs, punitive damages and other claims.
US federal and independent investigations into the disaster have found fault in Halliburton's cementing because it failed to properly plug the well. The firm used a foamy cement slurry.
In Monday's court filing, BP alleges that Halliburton employees discarded and destroyed early test results they performed on the same batch of cement slurry used in the Macondo well during an internal investigation into the disaster.
BP said Halliburton's chief cement mixer for Gulf projects testified in depositions that the cement slurry seemed "thin" to him but that he chose not to write about his findings to his bosses out of fear he would be misinterpreted.
"I didn't want to put anything on an email that could be twisted, and turned," Rickey Morgan, the Halliburton cement expert, said in depositions. He worked at a laboratory in Duncan, Oklahoma.
"Upon reviewing these latest testing results, Halliburton employees destroyed records of the testing as well as the physical cement samples used in the testing," BP alleged.

Halliburton--> The very same Halliburton as in Cheney Wikipedia listing.

Between 1987 and 1989, during his last term in Congress, Cheney was a director of the Council on Foreign Relationans foreign policy organization.^[53]
With the new Democratic administration under President Bill Clinton in January 1993, Cheney left the Department of Defense and joined the American Enterprise Institute. He also served a second term as a Council on Foreign Relations director from 1993 to 1995.^[53] From 1995 until 2000, he served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton, a Fortune 500 company and market leader in the energy sector.
Cheney's record as CEO was subject to some dispute among Wall Street analysts; a 1998 merger between Halliburton and Dresser Industries attracted the criticism of some Dresser executives for Halliburton's lack of accounting transparency.^[54] Although Cheney is not named as an individual defendant in the suit, Halliburton shareholders are pursuing a class-action lawsuit alleging that the corporation artificially inflated its stock price during this period; the United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on whether the case can continue to be litigated.^[55] Cheney was named in a December 2010 corruption complaint filed by the Nigerian government against Halliburton, which the company settled for $250 million.^[56]
During Cheney's tenure, Halliburton changed its accounting practices regarding revenue realization of disputed costs on major construction projects.^[57] Cheney resigned as CEO of Halliburton on July 25, 2000. As vice president, he argued that this step removed any conflict of interest. Cheney's net worth, estimated to be between $30 million and $100 million, is largely derived from his post at Halliburton, as well as the Cheneys' gross income of nearly $8.82 million.^{[58][not in citation given]}
He was also a member of the board of advisors of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) before becoming vice president.^[42]

Dear God, Have Mercy, If we Americans have to either bail them out of this mess that they got themselves into because They are an American Company and IT would be the Patriotic thing to do OR If we have to Forgive them of their err for some so called Patriotic Reasoning, such as They were so eager to create job or create energy independence: they . . . . I am going to scream!!!!!