Three Companies The accident sparked thousands of lawsuits against BP, as well as Vernier, Switzerland-based Transocean Ltd., the owner of the rig that burned and sank, and Houston-based Halliburton Co., which provided cementing services for the project. Transocean's $1 billion settlement with the U.S. in 2013 is the largest civil penalty for Clean Water Act violations, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Barbier conducted two trial phases in 2013, one on fault and gross negligence, the other on the size of the spill and the efforts to contain it. Lawyers for the U.S. and oil-spill victims contended in the first phase that BP was over budget and behind schedule, prompting it to cut corners and ignore safety tests showing the well was unstable. They alleged that Halliburton's cement job was defective and that Transocean employees made a series of missteps on the rig, including disabling safety systems and failing to adequately train its crew and maintain the installation.