BP Plc Chief Executive Officer John Browne was ordered by a Texas judge to give sworn testimony for lawsuits stemming from an explosion that killed 15 workers and injured hundreds more at the company’s biggest refinery.

The judge also sanctioned BP for failing to turn over a document, allowing victims to seek punitive damages beyond the normal state limit. A lawyer for injured BP workers also told the judge at a hearing in Galveston that American prosecutors subpoenaed records the company turned over to his clients for the suits.

Lord Browne, 58, has been giving interviews and meeting with BP employees,”indicating he has unique superior knowledge,” Judge Susan Criss said at the hearing. “I’m not convinced he doesn’t want to come here to this courtroom and tell the whole world.”

London-based BP, Europe’s largest oil company, faced about 1,300 lawsuits from people killed or injured by the March 2005 explosion at the company’s Texas City refinery complex near Houston. It has resolved about 1,000 of these claims, including 114 cases settled in principle earlier this week. The trial of the Galveston case, which involves two deaths, starts next month.

BP spokesman Neil Chapman said the company will oppose the judge’s order that Lord Browne appear to testify at a pre-trial deposition, a sworn interview conducted by lawyers in the case. Mr. Chapman declined to comment on the subpoena.

“While we respect the judge’s decision, we will appeal,” Mr. Chapman said. “John Browne does not have unique knowledge of the accident.”

Art Gonzalez, a lawyer who represents workers and families suing BP over the explosion told the judge that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston had requested documents subject to a court protective order in the case. He has until November 20 to produce the documents, he said.

The American prosecutors asked lawyers for the victims yesterday “to produce all underlying information we’ve obtained in the case,” said Brent Coon, lead attorney for the injured workers.

“They have expressed an interest in the findings we’ve uncovered in the civil case that relates to the criminal investigation,” Mr. Coon said in an interview during a court break today. The requested material includes depositions, exhibits and other documents, he said.

John Yembrick, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Houston, didn’t immediately return calls for comment.

The company has set aside $1.2 billion to cover claims related to the explosion. BP doesn’t disclose the amount of money paid so far in settlements, Mr. Chapman said.

BP has settled with the families of all but two of the workers who died in the blast. A lawsuit brought by Eva Rowe, who lost both parents in the Texas City explosion, is set for trial in early November.

BP disregarded worker safety at the Texas City refinery, leading to the explosion, Miss Rowe’s attorney Brent Coon said. BP management ordered 25%, across-the-board reductions in all operating budgets in the late 1990s. That resulted in shoddy maintenance and safety training at the refinery, Mr. Coon said.

“That meant reducing training, reducing staffing, pushing off maintenance,” Mr. Coon said in an interview. “As a result, they started getting fissures in the infrastructure, and everything kept getting shakier.”