BP sues cement firm Halliburton for spill costs

Oil giant BP has fired the latest shots in a legal battle over the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, claiming contractor Halliburton should pay all of its billions of dollars of costs.

In a filing at the federal court in New Orleans, BP said the cement contractor should reimburse it for the cost of cleaning up the oil spill, the lost profits from the well and “all other costs and damages”, Bloomberg News reported.

BP has so far paid $21bn for the clean-up operation and compensating individuals, businesses and governments.

It has also reserved more than $40bn to cover costs related to the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

BP and Halliburton accuse each other of making critical mistakes that caused the blow-out of the well off the Louisiana coast in 2010.