Pittsburgh ? Halliburton Co., the industrial giant once led by Vice President Dick Cheney, agreed Wednesday to pay about $4 billion in cash and stock to settle hundreds of thousands of asbestos claims.

The deal would cover about 300,000 current and future asbestos cases, mostly involving people across the country who were exposed to asbestos while working at plants that produced the material or in places where asbestos was used, such as steel mills.

Most of the claims against Halliburton were inherited four years ago when the Houston-based company — a huge oilfield services, engineering and construction business — acquired Dresser Industries Inc. for $7.7 billion.

The settlement was outlined Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Pittsburgh because most of the asbestos claims were filed against a former Dresser subsidiary, Pittsburgh-based Harbison-Walker Refractories Co., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last February.

The settlement would consist of $2.8 billion in cash and 59.5 million shares currently worth about $1.2 billion. The amount paid to individual claimants and their families would vary according to the injuries suffered.

Asbestos is used for fireproofing and insulation. Inhaling asbestos fibers can cause lung cancer and other deadly respiratory ailments, sometimes decades later.

More than 75 percent of the plaintiffs agreed to the deal, which was required for a settlement.