North Sea Gas Leak
A gas leak on Total’s Elgin offshore platform forced the French energy group to evacuate crews in the North Sea because of the risk of explosion. The evacuation prompted Royal Dutch Shell to evacuate workers from their nearby offshore operations and stopped ships and aircrafts from entering the area. Total believes it may take up to six months to stop the gas leak.
Crews on the Elgin platform were working to plug and abandon a well when the gas leak sprung over the weekend. Nearly 240 km east of Aberdeen, Scotland, Total evacuated 238 workers from the gas platform on Tuesday. As a precaution, Royal Dutch Shell evacuated 120 total workers from its Shearwater field 5 km away and a nearby drilling rig, the Hans Deul. According to Total, no one was injured during the incident and there is no apparent immediate danger to anyone in the affected area. Escaping gas, however, has explosive potential, can produce poisonous air and poses significant harm to the environment.
As of today – day four of the gas leak – the company reports the flare is still burning on the platform. In their statement, Total also revealed “the flare does not pose any immediate risk as the platform layout is designed to take into account the prevailing wind direction, ” and they continued, “the wind is forecast to remain in its current direction for the coming days”. They will however investigate how to extinguish the flame if it does not go out by itself.
Total assured “all necessary measures are being taken to respond appropriately to the situation and to minimise its impact. Preliminary assessments indicate no significant impact to the environment and dispersants are not considered necessary at this stage.”
The company also said it is still investigating what went wrong at the Elgin platform, which stands in 93 m of water and links several wells to a nearby production platform, from which gas and liquids are piped to the mainland. Total said an emergency relief well might have to be drilled to stop the well from leaking gas, a process that it said could take six months.