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British oil giant BP said Thursday it will be filing a motion seeking sanctions against oilfield services company Halliburton in the civil trial over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill for not turning over cement samples that may have been used with the well that blew out.
Attorneys for BP and the U.S. state of Alabama told U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, who overseas the civil trial to determine liability for the spill, that they would be filing motion sanctions by Friday seeking sanctions after Halliburton disclosed last week that it had discovered samples of a cement slurry at its lab that may be from the same mixture used to seal the Macondo well, according to news website NOLA.com.
Possible sanctions could include preventing Halliburton from using certain defenses at the trial, which could make it harder for the company to challenge a finding of gross negligence, according to media reports.
The April 20, 2010 blowout of the Macondo well, leased by BP, triggered an explosion that killed 11 rig workers and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. History. The accident sparked hundreds of lawsuits against BP and its partners, Transocean and Halliburton.
The nonjury trial over liability for the disaster began Feb. 25 and may last for three months.
During the first phase of the trial, Barbier is hearing evidence on the causes of the well blowout and will determine how to allocate fault.
The second phase will address the amount of oil that spilled. At some point during the trial or after, Barbier also is expected to determine if the disaster resulted from gross negligence.
