Total has
managed to halt a long-running gas leak on the Elgin platform in the North Sea
following a successful top kill operation.
It took just 12 hours
for the French major to call time on the leak once the top kill procedure
kicked off on Tuesday morning, it revealed on Wednesday.
The G4 well at the
Elgin processing, utilities and quarters (PUQ) facility has been spewing
natural gas following a blowout which was discovered on 25 March.
On Tuesday the
Seadrill semi-submersible drilling rig West Phoenix began pumping mud into the
well in an effort to plug the leak. At the time Total said it may be a few days
before it was able to confirm whether or not the operation had been successful.
In the end it took
only half a day for the leak to stop 240 kilometres off Aberdeen.
There was a note of
caution from Total, however, which added: "During the coming days...teams
will closely monitor the G4 well in order to confirm the complete success of
the intervention."
The company's president of exploration and production,
Yves-Louis Darricarrere, said:“Today, a major turning point has
been achieved. Our absolute priority was to stop the gas leak safely and as
quickly as possible.
Since 25 March, 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 learnt from
this incident.”
The top kill job was
one of two methods by which Total planned to simultaneously try to stop the
leak. It also planned to drill two relief wells.
Only one of these
actually spudded, Total using the semisub Sedco 714. It had also contracted the
jack-up Rowan Gorilla V but this unit never actually began drilling.
Although Total did not
make any reference to the relief wells in Wednesday's announement, it is highly
likely that the Sedco 714 will soon halt drilling, if this has not already
happened.
Gas was originally
spewing from the platform at a rate of some 7 million cubic feet per day
following the discovery of the leak in late March, but this has since
diminished significantly.
A sheen of gas
condensate also developed on the water surface.
Total shut in all
production at its Elgin and Franklin fields following the discovery of the
leak. The oil major evacuated all 238 workers from the Elgin facility and the
adjacent Rowan Viking.
Anglo-Dutch supermajor
Shell also pulled all workers from its nearby Shearwater platform.