BP PLC (BP) lost a court bid to dismiss investors' fraud claims over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison in Houston allowed holders of BP American depositary receipts to pursue claims alleging violations of U.S. securities law, the report said.

It said he rejected investors' claim that BP lied about its safety commitment, while finding it might have exaggerated its ability to respond to a spill.

"Plaintiffs have sufficiently pleaded facts to demonstrate that BP misrepresented the size of the spill it was prepared to respond to in the Gulf and misrepresented the company's general spill response capabilities," the report quoted Ellison as saying in a decision.

Scott Dean, BP spokesman, declined to comment on the ruling, according to the report, which said the company had earlier denied fraud or any lack of attention to safety.

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