NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A lawyer for the cement contractor on the Deepwater Horizon drilling project says the company has found cement samples possibly associated with BP's Macondo well that weren't turned over to the Justice Department for testing.

Halliburton lawyer Donald Godwin told U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier on Thursday that the company believes the material found this week at its lab in Lafayette, La., has no bearing on the ongoing trial over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

But a plaintiffs' attorney countered that the samples are cement a Halliburton employee used for testing of the well before a blowout triggered a deadly explosion.

In an email to the court late Wednesday, Godwin says Halliburton is investigating whether the material should have been turned over in response to subpoenas.