Halliburton Pleads Guilty in 2010 Oil Spill

(Image source: U.S. Coast Guard) BY SCOTT MALONE 

Oil giant Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to the destruction of critical evidence following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010. 
The oil services company says it will pay the maximum fine of $200,000 and it will face three years of probation for destroying computer simulations of the sea-floor well's cement job. (Via CNN) The oil rig explosion killed 11 people and poured nearly five million barrels of crude oil into the gulf before that well was capped three months later. (Via BBC) That incident is regarded as the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.  Halliburton was BP's cement contractor for the Deepwater Horizon rig — meaning it oversaw the design and construction of the oil well. 
One senior Halliburton official even testified earlier this year, "The cement placement [for the Deepwater Horizon well] was going to be a job that would have a low probability of success." Later tests revealed the cement was not stable, and it ultimately led to the failure of systems that are in place to contain an oil well breach. (Via The Times-Picayune) Investigators also claim Halliburton officials knew about the cement's instability before the explosion — but the company proceeded with the cementing anyway. An analyst for CNBC says all things considered, this "maximum" fine seems a bit small. 
"In comparison to the record $4.5 billion that BP reached that settlement with the government when it pled guilty ... also less than the roughly $1.5 billion that Transocean agreed to pay." But despite that relatively light fine, one legal expert told The New York Times Halliburton isn't out of the woods yet. "This [plea] could impact how the civil litigation is resolved, potentially imposing more liability on Halliburton than we originally thought." That greater liability could lump Halliburton in with BP on charges of gross negligence. Bloomberg reports that liability could lead to more than $17 billion in fines under the Clean Water Act and other unspecified damages to the entities that were not a part of last year's settlement. Halliburton is also opening up its wallet for a separate $55 million donation to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The company adds it will continue to cooperate with the U.S. government's criminal investigation into the spill.