Elgin platform gas leak plugged following well intervention 16 May 2012

Total has today (May 16, 2012) announced that its well intervention operation, started yesterday, has stopped the G4 well leak on the Elgin complex, 240km from Aberdeen in the North Sea.

The operation, which involved pumping heavy mud into the leaking well, stopped the gas escape after 12 hours.

The G4 well had been leaking following an incident on 25 March, which led to 238 people being evacuated from Elgin and an adjacent drilling rig, the Rowan Viking.

From an estimated initial gas flow of around 2 kg/second, the leak had decreased to an estimated 0.5 kg/s.

Yves-Louis Darricarrère, Total's president of Exploration & Production, says that experts from Total and specialist contractors will now be closely monitoring the G4 well to confirm complete success of the intervention.

"Today, a major turning point has been achieved," comments Darricarrère.

"Our absolute priority was to stop the gas leak safely and as quickly as possible," he continues.

"Since March 25th, we have been working closely with the authorities... We shall now fully complete the ongoing task and take into account the lessons learnt from this incident."

Brian Tinham

Related Companies
Total Petrochemicals UK Ltd

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