French
energy company Total has said it has found the source of a gas leak at a
platform off the coast of Scotland, but that actually stopping the flow of gas
could take up to six months.
French
energy company Total has identified the source of a gas leak in the North Sea
at its Elgin platform off the coast of Scotland, the company said Thursday, but
it has not yet figured out a way to stop the leak.
A Total
spokeswoman in Aberdeen, Scotland said the leak is from another well that had
been plugged a year ago, as well as from a rock formation about 4,000 meters
(13,123 feet) below the sea. The Elgin gas platform is in water less than 100
meters deep, indicating the leak is far underground.
The company
said it had sent fire-fighting ships to the scene of the leak in case of an
explosion. A flare was left burning less than 100 meters from the leakage site
to remove any excess gas around the platform, posing the threat of an explosion.
However Total said favorable wind conditions made that threat unlikely, and
that the flare should burn out on its own in a few days.
Finding the
source of the leak is crucial to repairing it, engineers say, but Total has not
yet developed a strategy to stop the flow of gas. The company said Tuesday this
could take six months.
The leak
started on Sunday and forced the company to evacuate all the 238 employees
working on the platform.
Both Total
and British authorities have said they expect the environmental damage from the
leak to be "minimal," but experts in environmental pollution say much
of the mix of gases could be either flammable or poisonous, meaning approaching
the site could be difficult.
The leak
has caused Total's shares to drop about 9 percent in value over the five days
since the leak materialized.
acb/msh (AFP, Reuters)
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