LONDON — BP has sued the United States government to overturn the suspension of most BP entities, including its exploration arm, from federal contracts.

The suit, filed on Tuesday in federal court in Texas, seeks to overturn a ban imposed in November by the Environmental Protection Agency. The agency cited BP for “lack of business integrity” as demonstrated by its role in the disastrous oil spill in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The agency said the suspension would be in force “until the company can provide sufficient evidence to E.P.A. that it meets federal business standards.”

The ban’s most significant impact is that it prevents BP from gaining new oil and gas leases in the United States. That suspension, for instance, is likely to be hampering the company’s activities in the Gulf of Mexico. The company is the leader in deepwater gulf leases with 719, it says.

BP’s output in the Gulf of Mexico, a crucial profit center, has dropped sharply to 219,000 barrels a day in 2012, from about 338,000 in 2010, because it divested itself of oil and gas fields there, as well as the temporary moratorium on drilling that was imposed after the spill.