Trial over Gulf oil spill set to resume Tuesday

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- BP's cement contractor on the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 will continue presenting its defense next week at a trial over the deadly catastrophe.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier heard testimony Wednesday by a Halliburton employee who was a cementing engineer for the company and visited the Deepwater Horizon rig before BP's well blowout.

The trial started Feb. 25 and is scheduled to resume Tuesday after a break for Easter.

BP is expected to start calling its own witnesses once Halliburton rests its case.

Barbier is hearing testimony without a jury. Barring a settlement, he could decide how much more money the companies owe for their roles in the disaster that killed 11 rig workers and led to the nation's worst offshore oil spill.