Friday 8 March 2013

Total gets green light to restart North Sea gas field

Oil and gas firm Total has been given clearance to resume production at its Elgin gas platform (pictured) nearly a year after a major leak was found.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) gave the go-ahead and said it has “accepted the safety case” for the Elgin installation.

Located 150 miles east of Aberdeen, the platform was evacuated when gas was found leaking last March. It was stopped by pumping heavy mud and concrete into the well and the incident is believed to have cost Total around £248 million in lost production.

In a statement the HSE said: "The company undertook to demonstrate that it had re-evaluated the risks associated with operating the installation by resubmitting the safety case required by HSE to permit production.”

It added that it will be up to Total to decide when to restart operations, however, the investigation into the incident last year is still ongoing. A Total spokesperson said it would restart production as soon as possible. Elgin is believed to pump around nine million cubic metres of gas and 60,000 barrels of oil every day.