A federal judge in New Orleans said Wednesday he is leaning in favor of granting preliminary approval to a proposed class-action settlement that would resolve billions of dollars in claims against BP over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The development comes despite objections from a BP contractor on the doomed well project, the Mississippi attorney general and others.

After hearing BP and a team of plaintiffs’ attorneys outline the proposed deal, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said he plans to rule within a week. Barbier would hold a “fairness hearing’’ later this year, possibly in November, before deciding whether to give his final approval.

The proposed agreement is intended to resolve more than 100,000 claims by people and businesses who blame economic losses on the nation’s worst offshore oil spill.

“This has been a very impressive effort on the part of counsel … in terms of getting to where you all are today,’’ Barbier said, noting that litigation over the Exxon Valdez spill took roughly 20 years to resolve. “I did not intend for this case to go on for 20 years, not with me in charge of it.’’

London-based BP PLC estimates it would pay about $7.8 billion to resolve these claims, but the settlement wouldn’t be capped and likely would be one of the largest class-action settlements ever.

Barbier stressed that his preliminary approval would only mark a “starting point,’’ with objections to the deal to be considered in coming months. The proposal was announced March 2 and is spelled out in hundreds of pages of documents filed last week.