Singapore, August 16:

Crude prices were steady in Asian hours on Wednesday as traders breathed easier over the Middle East after the UN ceasefire in Lebanon took effect, dealers said.

British energy giant BP’s announcement Friday that it would keep pumping oil from its Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska was also a relief for the market after the sharp run-up in prices in recent weeks, they said.

At 0615 GMT New York’s main contract, light sweet crude was steady 73.05 dollars a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for delivery in September eased 15 cents to 73.65 dollars.

“The market is starting to wash out some of the fear premium from the Middle East,” said Mark Pervan, a commodities analyst with Daiwa Securities in Melbourne.

He said BP’s announcement that it would maintain about half the output at Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in the United States, meant there was “a lot more supply than expected coming from there.” The field normally produces 400,000 barrels per day of crude — around 8.0 per cent of total US output.

There were initial concerns of a major supply disruption from Prudhoe Bay, where a corroded pipeline sprang a leak almost two weeks ago, but BP’s announcement was a relief to the market.