NEW YORK, Sept 2: US oil-services giant Halliburton said Friday that it was filing a defamation lawsuit against BP over the devastating 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Halliburton... filed claims against BP in Texas state court for negligent misrepresentation, business disparagement and defamation related to the April 20, 2010, Macondo incident,” the Houston-based company said.

BP gave Halliburton inaccurate information about the Macondo well before the oil-services firm performed cementing services on the well on April 19, 2010, Halliburton said in a statement.

After the disaster, BP omitted the issue of the inaccurate information from its public statements about the incident and materials submitted to US government investigations, Halliburton alleged.

“Halliburton has learned that BP provided Halliburton inaccurate information about the actual location of hydrocarbon zones in the Macondo well.

“The actual location of the hydrocarbon zones is critical information required prior to performing cementing services and is necessary to achieve desired cement placement,” Halliburton said.

The statement did not say how many dollars' worth of damages Halliburton was seeking against BP.

A presidential commission concluded last October that a faulty cement mix in the lining of the well contributed to the disaster, which killed 11 workers aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

Some 4.9 million barrels of oil had gushed out of the runaway underwater well before the leak was capped about three months later, causing severe environmental damage in the Gulf of Mexico.—AFP