Oil services shares slide as oil spill escalates

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of oil services companies tumbled on Friday in the aftermath of the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig and the oil leak that followed.

Halliburton Co (HAL.N) shares fell 6 percent to $29.72, Transocean Ltd (RIG.N) dropped 7.8 percent to $72.41 and the PHLX oil services sector index .OSX slid 3.5 percent.

Efforts redoubled to avert what could become one of the worst U.S. ecological disasters and the White House said there would be no oil drilling authorized in new areas until a review of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been conducted.