A week after BP PLC’s announcement that it was shutting down Prudhoe Bay sent ripples through world oil markets, the decision to continue to partially operate the giant oil field in Alaska has taken the worst-case scenario for oil prices off the table, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Under pressure from federal authorities concerned about supply shortages and Alaskan state officials fearing the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties and taxes, the United Kingdom’s BP said late Friday it would maintain production in the western part of Prudhoe Bay, the largest producing oil field in the U.S., because it was confident of the integrity of the pipeline there.

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