LONDON: Halliburton Co, the world’s second-biggest oilfield services provider, is being investigated by UK prosecutors over whether a subsidiary used payments to secure contracts at a gas plant in Nigeria.

The matter relates to a joint venture involving the company’s Kellogg Brown & Root unit, Halliburton spokeswoman Cathy Mann said in an e-mail on Tuesday.

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which investigates and prosecutes corruption cases, said in a separate e-mail that it conducted a raid last month to gain evidence about possible illegal payments in Nigeria.

"The SFO is investigating allegations of illegal payments made to secure contracts in Nigeria,’’ the SFO said in the statement that didn’t identify the subject of the probe.

The Nigerian gas contracts are also the subject of separate French and US probes. Houston-based Halliburton is co-operating with various investigative agencies regarding the company’s operations in Nigeria, Mann said in the e-mail.

The probe by the SFO was previously reported by the Financial Times. – Bloomberg