By Jonathan Stempel
March 11 (Reuters) - BP Plc does not have to faceU.S. lawsuits by energy and drilling companies over losses theysuffered from an offshore drilling ban imposed soon after the2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans agreed withBP that federal law absolved the British oil company fromliability for the Obama administration's decision to haltdrilling and impose a moratorium on permits for new wells.
The decision issued late on Thursday removes one of BP'slast legal overhangs from the April 20, 2010 blowout of itsMacondo well and the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drillingrig, a disaster that killed 11 workers.
BP has incurred $55.5 billion of costs for the spill,according to a March 4 regulatory filing by the company.
Barbier agreed with BP that the company's liability waslimited to economic losses from the spill itself, despite therebeing "no doubt" that the permit moratorium would not have beenimposed had the spill not happened.
The judge found no sign that Congress meant to holdcompanies such as BP "liable for the financial consequences ofsubsequent government actions aimed at preventing similartragedies," Barbier wrote.
It took more than a year for permit approvals to return topre-spill levels.
Steve Herman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, did notimmediately respond on Friday to requests for comment. BPspokesman Geoff Morrell declined to comment.
BP still faces a class-action lawsuit by investors claimingthat their American depositary shares lost value after thecompany initially concealed the spill's severity.
A trial is scheduled for July 5 in Houston, court recordsshow.
The case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "DeepwaterHorizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, U.S. DistrictCourt, Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 10-md-02179. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing byBernadette Baum)