Total hosted a press conference, attended by Rt Hon Charles Hendry, MP, Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) at which it provided further details of the scale of its work to control the release of non-toxic gas from the G4 well on the Elgin field platform and confirmed that the situation remains stable.
Philippe Guys, Managing Director of Total E&P UK , said:
‘Let me say how much Total regrets the incident at the Elgin complex. Our top priority is the safety of our personnel. I can confirm that, in addition to the safe evacuation of 238 personnel from the Elgin platform, the on-board safety systems of the whole complex, including the other wells, were successfully activated.’
Actions taken to tackle the leak
With respect to stopping the leak, Total is preparing two main actions which are progressing in parallel:
• Drilling relief wells – to that end, Total has suspended operations on two of its drilling rigs in order to make them available for work on the relief wells.
• Blocking the well with “heavy mud” – using a mixture containing mineral compounds to be pumped into the well to suppress the flow of gas.
[mappress] Subsea World News Staff , April 01, 2012; Image: Total