BP Accuses Halliburton Of Destroying Key Evidence In Oil Spill

BP filed a court case yesterday that accused Halliburton of destroying damaging evidence about the quality of it's cement slurry that was in the drilling well which blew out last year causing the nation's worst off shore oil spill.

In the case, BP is accusing Halliburton of intentionally destroying evidence about possible problems with its cement slurry poured into the deep-sea Macondo well about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast.  Also in the documents, Halliburton is accused of failing to produce incriminating computer modeling evidence.  BP is asking U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to penalize Halliburton and order a court-sponsored computer forensic team to recover the missing modeling results. (Business week)

Halliburton did not return a call seeking comment but told other media outlets that the accusations were untrue.

The allegations in the 310-page motion ratcheted up the showdown among BP PLC and contractors, Halliburton and Transocean Ltd. The three companies have been sparring over blame for the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blast, which killed 11 workers and led to the release of 206 million gallons of crude oil 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.

The case is looking like it has legs to stand on as well as a key Halliburton employee speaks up about the cement slurry.

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.

If the evidence was in fact destroyed, we'll see an ugly court battle take place.  And if so in facto they did destroy evidence they they need get the hell out of the oil business.  Either go hard or go home applies to cement slurry's.  We all know that.