WBRZ - Baton Rouge

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A federal judge will allow a Halliburton cement specialist at the heart of decisions that led to the blowout of a BP-owned well in 2010 to testify - against the wishes of BP.

Jesse Gagliano, who worked on the well's cementing job, was interviewed by a congressional committee and testified before a government panel probing the disaster. But in May 2011, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to be questioned under oath for the litigation. He has been identified as a possible subject of a Justice Department criminal investigation of the disaster.

On Jan. 13, Gagliano agreed to be questioned by civil attorneys.

BP argued against letting Gagliano testify so close to the trial, claiming it would give Halliburton a strategic advantage.