Oil prices steadied today despite continued uncertainty over the scale of disruption caused by BP’s shutdown of a key Alaskan oilfield.

BP says the corrosion discovered at its huge Alaskan oil field is so severe it could shut down America’s single biggest source of domestic crude for months and drive world fuel prices even higher.

Oil traded near record highs today after the discovery of pipeline corrosion caused BP to close the biggest production field in the United States.