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Posted in BP British Petroleum,Deepwater Horizon,Environment,Gulf Coast,Halliburton,Louisiana Maritime News,Maritime Accidents,Maritime Lawsuits,Texas Maritime News,World Maritime News on September 5, 2011
HARRIS COUNTY, TX – Halliburton has filed a lawsuit against BP PLC Friday, Sept 2, in the Texas state court claiming negligent misrepresentation, business disparagement and defamation related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster that caused the Gulf of Mexico oil spill last year.
Halliburton accuses BP of intentionally omitting information about the location of hydrocarbon zones from its own report on the causes of the blowout. Halliburton also claims BP withheld the same information from government investigators.
Halliburton also said Friday that it is amending existing claims against BP in federal court in the multi-district litigation in New Orleans to include fraud allegations.
NPR reports:
Halliburton said these allegations are based upon BP providing it with inaccurate information prior to it performing cementing services on 19 April 2010 and BP’s use of and omission of that information in subsequent public statements, filings and governmental investigations.
US-based Halliburton provided cementing services for the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company said it received inaccurate information from BP about the actual location of hydrocarbon zones in the Macondo well.
BP PLC has engaged in a “cover up scheme” to hide its culpability for the deadly rig explosion that spawned last year’s massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the oil giant’s partners in the drilling project claims in a newly filed lawsuit.
“Profit and greed” were BP’s motives for concealing the information, the lawsuit alleges. Halliburton says it likely would have insisted on redesigning the well’s production casing if it had known about an additional hydrocarbon zone that BP allegedly failed to disclose.
“Such changes would have cost BP millions of dollars on a well that was already painfully over budget and behind schedule,” says the suit, filed in a Harris County, Texas, state court.
In response to the suit, which seeks unspecified monetary damages, BP spokesman Scott Dean accused Halliburton of trying to deflect blame and divert attention from its role in the disaster. Dean said “multiple independent investigations” have identified “serious problems” with the cementing of the well.
“BP has accepted its responsibility for responding to the spill and is accordingly paying costs and compensation,” Dean said in a statement. “In contrast, Halliburton has refused to accept any responsibility or accountability. As BP has said repeatedly, it expects other parties to accept their responsibilities and bear their share of the costs.”
Maritime attorneys, Gordon & Elias, L.L.P. work with Jones Act clients all along the Gulf Coast and throughout the nation. From Lake Charles to Lake Pontchartrain, our lawyers put decades of combined legal experience and extensive resources to work for clients who pursue compensation for their injuries under the Jones Act. We are the leading offshore injury law firm representing victims of the BP, Transocean Deepwater Horizon disaster, along with assisting businesses that were damaged by the impact of the Gulf oil spill. For a free consultation, call an expert maritime lawyer 24/7 at 800.773.6770.
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