Boomhauer

BP is claiming this sum as the cost they incurred in cleanup, loss of revenue and the $20 billion set aside for claims.

Well well well....., BP is not some banana republic or powerless native tribe for US multinationals to run rough shod, and same applies to BP's actions towards Halliburton. Will be interesting to see how the US and UK governments approach this.

Oh and Halliburton is headquartered in the UAE, like Xe services aka Blackwater yet Halliburton will want the US gov. to use it's resources to back up Halliburton.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/busine...80200S20120103

Last year BP accused Halliburton of destroying incriminating evidence such as test results for the cement used in plugging the well,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...xico-oil-spill

Halliburton is suing BP for defamation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...05-713928.html

Norm_uk

Time to invest more into litigation funding methinks....

N.

Oyibopeppeh

It's just a pissing contest which will also involve Hess (one of the other operator partners), Transocean (the rig owner) and perhaps a few more besides.

The blame lies almost entirely with BP themselves, who failed in their duty as the operator to heed the advice from HalCo that procedures were not being followed correctly. The string of emails confirming BP's screw up with the cement job has already been made public.

The only people who will come out of this favourably (in financial terms, at least), will be the lawyers.

Bob

BP won that $250M settlement against the company who produced the safety blower, jobby...for the nice technical term...

So they might be in for some more monies....sure they were ultimately at fault and would probably lose against the Rig owners, but Halliburton are as dodgy and as despised as anything...still, not making much news over here though.

Boomhauer

Blow Out Preventer .
$250,000 is chump change in this mess but what it does is give BP is some ground to claim "Not our fault, and heres the verdict to prove it"

What do you think of the notion that Halliburton moved their HQ to Dubai not just for tax purposes but also to better shield themselves from litigation, pesky investigative journalists and media, US government's ability to investigate and secure evidence/data and ofcourse public pressure???

Dubai authorities will shield Halliburton from local and international journalists and critics to a degree that would not be possible in the US.

Oyibopeppeh

I would tend to agree...

Halliburton moved their HQ to Dubai years ago, but long before the GOM disaster. Same as Transocean, who went to Switzerland.

How come Schlumberger have managed to avoid the flack, despite having a huge operation in Iran?

Boomhauer

Yeah when I typed that I was thinking that Halliburton's move was not specifically about the Gulf Of Mexico disaster but just in general trying to shield themselves from critics. Long before the GOM disaster , in the eyes of the general public, Halliburton earned its negative reputation for their part in the Iraq war , their shady sweet heart no competition deals with the US government, ripping off the US taxpayer, providing inferior goods/services to US troops in Iraq that resulted in death/injury and having Dick Cheney on their board . Cheney being on their board just soldified opinion on how the Bush/Cheney admin was pro big oil.

Maybee Schlumberger has very powerfull friends in high places forcing their critics to self censor themselves to an extent that would not normally not be afforded to lesser companies??? It kinda reminds me of how Anti Defamation League's Abe Foxman was cautiously critical of Obama and Sarkozy for Sarko's private comments on Netanyahu BUT Foxman didn't dare call Obama or Sarkozy anti Semitic cause Obama and Sarkozy are not your average celeb/prominent figure.

TGFKASE

Oh, the tangled web we weave when we don't have all the facts...

Halliburtons HQ is STILL Based in Houston, TX. Their Eastern Hemisphere Operations HQ is based in Dubai.

The creation of the office was solely based on ensuring they had a sizable footprint within the EH.

2007 announcement

The only way that Halliburton is allowed to bid on any of the contracts mentioned is due to the fact that there HQ is based stateside. If it weren't, they would not be allowed to bid on any US government contract. With the farming off of KBR, that requirement is not as important as it was before, but yet HAL is still willing to base itself in the US, having to pay US taxes etc, whilst their competitors base themselves offshore.. (Weatherford etc)

I cannot remember all of the conjecture spouted on the earlier posts, so will post this and have another read....

And, yes, I do work for the despised Halliburton...

Boomhauer

Ahh ok my mistake, so they still retain a Houston HQ in addition to Dubai. I was going on MSM media reports like the one below by ABC about Halliburton relocatiNG their Houston HQ to Dubai.

While I think Halliburton leadership/board are dispicable (not unlike some other corps), I know the rank and file employees aren't calling the shots. My dad was an M. Engineer at ADNOC and on behalf of ADNOC went to Houston to consult with Halliburton. He had considered working for them in the US but couldn't be arsed to move.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/s...2943017&page=1

I am usually quite cynical and skeptical on news reports but some stuff like this just flies under the radar. The ABC audio report (included in the above link) also claims that HQ is moving from Houston to Dubai, NY Senator Schumer claimed as much. When I typed the previous responses, I was working on recollection of older news reports like the above one.