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         Halliburton to Plead Guilty in Connection With Gulf Oil Spill

   The U.S. Justice Department says Halliburton Energy Services has agreed
   to plead guilty to destroying evidence in connection with the
   devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico three years ago.
   U.S. officials said Thursday that criminal information charging
   Halliburton with one count of destroying evidence was filed Thursday in
   a federal court in Louisiana.
   A statement said as part of the plea deal, Halliburton agreed to pay
   the maximum fine, be subject to three years` probation, and to continue
   cooperating in the government`s probe into the oil spill.
   The statement did not specify the amount of the fine. There was no
   immediate comment from the company.
   Halliburton was a cement contractor for British oil giant BP on the
   giant drilling rig that exploded in April 2010. The blast killed 11
   workers and spewed almost 5 million barrels of oil into waters off the
   southern U.S. Gulf coast over a nearly three-month period.
   The Justice Department said Halliburton ordered the destruction of
   computer simulations and other evidence linked to the probe into the
   accident.
   BP has accepted responsibility for the disaster and said its legal and
   cleanup costs could total $43 billion. The company has reached
   settlements with some other companies that played lesser roles in the
   explosion.
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   tion-with-gulf-oil-spill/1710374.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/halliburton-to-plead-guilty-in-connection-with-gulf-oil-spill/1710374.html