NEWS

KUWAIT, April 19 (Reuters) - Kuwait's parliament delayed on Monday the submission of results of a probe into a deal to supply fuel to Halliburton Co for the American military in Iraq after the U.S. army declined to testify.

The assembly voted to extend until mid-June the deadline for the investigation by a parliamentary panel into dealings between state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) and a local subcontractor of a Halliburton subsidiary.

A U.S. draft audit has found evidence that Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a subsidiary of U.S. oil services firm Halliburton, may have overcharged the U.S. government $61 million for bringing oil products for the U.S. army into Iraq via a Kuwaiti subcontractor, Altanmia Commercial Marketing Co.

Since being set up in February, the panel has heard top KPC officials, who deny any wrongdoing, and wants to interview KBR and U.S. army officials. It had been due to report last week.

The panel's head, MP Ali al-Rashed, asked for more staff and expressed disappointment last week at the U.S. army's non-attendance.

Rashed said the U.S. embassy had told the Kuwaiti foreign ministry its officials were not attending the Kuwaiti probe because similar investigations were already being carried out by the Pentagon.

The U.S. embassy, the U.S. army and KBR in Kuwait have declined to comment on the probe.

KPC is in charge of the petroleum sector in oil-rich Kuwait, the launch pad for last year's U.S.-led war in Iraq.