Halliburton shares up despite destroying evidence

Adam Shell | USA TODAY

NEW YORK — Wall Street is shrugging off news that oil services firm Halliburton has admitted to destroying evidence related to the environmentally damaging 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, pushing shares up more than 3.7%.

After the market close Thursday, Halliburton said it will plead guilty to the criminal charged filed by the Justice Department and pay a fine of $200,000. It also made a voluntary contribution of $55 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Investors opted instead to focus on the oil services firm's announcement yesterday that it is planning on buying back $3.3 billion of its shares, as well as the company's quarterly earnings beat announced Monday.

The stock was up 27.8% for the year heading into today's trading session, which tops the 18.5% gain for the broader market represented by the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index.

The oil rig blowout three summers ago in the Gulf of Mexico not only caused massive environmental damage, but also hurt the local economies of numerous states along the Gulf Coast, which rely on tourism and fishing profits. The explosion at the oil rig killed 11 workers and polluted hundreds of miles of coastline.

Halliburton was a contractor involved in the drilling of the faulty BP well, which was operated by Transocean.

Halliburton rose $3.70 to $45.98.

Transocean shares dropped 80 cents, or 1.7%, to $47.69. BP's stock fell 11 cents, or 0.3%, to $43.58.

The government charged Halliburton with destroying computer simulations that it conducted a few months after the spill that were related to the process of using cement to seal the pipes in oil wells.