Total Reports Gas Leak Stopped
Pumping heavy mud into the leaking well started May 15, and the leak was stopped 12 hours later.
The French energy company Total announced March 16 that its well intervention operation had stopped the gas leak on its Elgin platform in the North Sea, off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland. The operation pumped heavy mud into the leaking well; it began May 15 and the leak was stopped 12 hours later, according to the company.
The leak was discovered March 25 and caused Total to evacuate 238 people from the platform and a second rig located nearby.
Experts from Total and specialist contractors will closely monitor the well for some days to confirm the complete success of the intervention. "Today, a major turning point has been achieved," said Yves-Louis Darricarrère, Total's president of Exploration & Production. "Our absolute priority was to stop the gas leak safely and as quickly as possible. Since March 25, we have been working closely with the authorities, and we have communicated transparently and will continue to do so. We shall now fully complete the ongoing task and take into account the lessons learned from this incident."