Halliburton Destroyed Evidence in Gulf Spill

NEW ORLEANS (CN) - Halliburton Energy Services admitted it destroyed evidence in the Deepwater Horizon disaster that set off the worst oil spill in history, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

Halliburton agreed to plead guilty to destruction of evidence and a one-count criminal information was filed here Thursday in Federal Court, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

Halliburton also agreed, subject to court approval, to pay the maximum statutory fine, to pay $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation - whether the court accepts the plea deal or not - and to cooperate in the government's criminal investigation.

Before the Macondo well blew out and set off the disaster, Halliburton recommended to BP that the oil company use 21 centralizers, or metal collars, in the well casing, but BP decided to use only six, the Justice Department said.

After the disaster, Halliburton conducted its own simulations to see whether 21 centralizers could have helped.

"These simulations indicated that there was little difference between using six and 21 centralizers. [The] program manager was directed to, and did, destroy these results," the Justice Department said.

Halliburton also destroyed evidence from a second set of simulations.

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