Halliburton to settle U.S. Gulf spill claims for $1.1 billion

(Reuters) - Halliburton Co said it reached a $1.1 billion (665.9 million British pounds) settlement for a majority of claims against the company for its role in the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The settlement, which includes legal fees, is subject to approval by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The amount, to be paid in three instalments over the next two years, will be put into a trust until all appeals are resolved, the company said. Halliburton, North America's top oilfield services provider, had set aside $1.3 billion for costs related to the incident. The Macondo accident spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil into the sea, according to the U.S. government, and killed 11 workers. Rig contractor Transocean Ltd , which employed nine of the workers killed, agreed to pay $1.4 billion in settlement last year, while BP has paid about $28 billion so far. Halliburton provided cementing services for BP at the Macondo drilling operation, including the placement of "centralisers" that help stabilise the well bore during cementing. Halliburton had earlier blamed BP's decision to use only six centralizers - to save "time and money" - for the blowout. Halliburton's shares were up slightly at $67.92 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Kirti Pandey)