NEW ORLEANS (Bloomberg) — BP Plc will face hundreds of lawsuits over the Deepwater Horizon disaster in federal court in New Orleans, a panel of judges ordered, a victory for plaintiffs seeking billions of dollars in damages for the largest oil spill in US history.

US District Judge Carl Barbier will preside over more than 300 suits, including wrongful-death claims by families of workers killed in the April explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Claims also cover revenue lost by Gulf Coast businesses and environmental damage. BP investors' suits over losses tied to the spill will go to federal court in Houston.

Government scientists estimated that the well spewed more than four million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest accidental maritime oil spill. The leak was about 16 times larger than the estimated 257,000 barrels lost by the tanker Exxon Valdez in a 1989 accident in Alaska.

BP has set aside $32.2 billion to pay spill costs and legal claims. The London-based company, which is selling $30 billion of assets, replaced its chief executive officer after reporting a record quarterly loss of $17.2 billion.