The full extent of the asbestos charge will be announced with second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, Halliburton said in a statement. Halliburton was led from 1995 to 2000 by Vice President Dick Cheney.

The charge stems from a previously announced study by econometrics firm Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler which was intended to help Halliburton assess the total number and value of future asbestos claims that could be filed against it.

Halliburton had already said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May that this would result in the company incurring a "material liability" and a corresponding charge against second-quarter earnings.

In the past Halliburton has only recorded liabilities for claims that have already been filed against it.

Since 1976 some 499,000 asbestos claims have been filed against Halliburton and its subsidiaries, of which 292,000 were still unresolved at the end of the first quarter of 2002.

The company said it has settled or disposed of 207,000 claims at an average cost of $309 per claim, after deduction of money it expects to recover from its insurance companies.

Following Monday's announcement, the Dallas-based oilfield services and engineering company's shares were trading down $1.31, or 11.3 percent, at $10.24 after sinking as far as $9.85 -- their lowest level since hitting a 15-year low of $8.62 in January.

Halliburton said its KBR unit, formerly known as Kellogg Brown & Root, will record a pretax loss of $119 million on an offshore engineering and construction job in the second quarter, equivalent to about 25 cents per share.

The company said it will file claims relating to this loss and will record as revenue any amounts for which it regards recovery of its claims as probable.

Halliburton's accounting for such cost-overruns and unrecovered claims attracted media attention earlier this year and resulted in a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company says it has always applied accounting regulations correctly.

Halliburton and Cheney were recently sued by the Judicial Watch group which alleged that the company overstated its revenues by as much as $445 million over three years.

The company and the White House both said there was no merit in the case.

Halliburton also on Monday announced a second-quarter restructuring charge of $56 million before taxes, or 8 cents per share, with further pretax restructuring charges of $20 million expected later this year.

The restructuring, which will separate the oilfield services and engineering and construction businesses more clearly, will lead to annual pretax savings of at least $200 million, it said.

The company said it will recognize a pretax loss of $61 million, or 14 cents per share, as the result of a decision to exit the pipe-coating business.