David Hainsworth, health, safety and environment manager at Total Exploration and Production UK Ltd, told Channel 4 News: "We have an on-going leak that we have to stop. It is not a disaster, no-one has been injured, the environmental consequences are very low, but clearly we have to stop this leak."
Mr Hainsworth added: "The gas is mainly methane, it is very flammable. The flare is still alight on the main production platform. However, the wind is blowing the gas plume in the opposite direction, away from this flare.
"We know that the weather forecast is such that the wind direction remains the same for the following five to six days, and we're evaluating options to extinguish this flare."
But Jake Malloy, offshore organiser for the RMT union in Aberdeen, warned: "If the gas cloud somehow finds an ignition source we could be looking at complete destruction."
No lives are currently at risk as the platform and neighbouring installations were evacuated. But if the gas cloud around Elgin were to ignite it would likely destroy the platform. That could seriously hamper efforts to stop the leak, which could take up to six months to bring under control.
The Coastguard ordered ships to stay at least two miles away from the rig and Shell UK removed 120 non-essential staff from the company's Shearwater platform and nearby Noble Hans Deul drilling rig. The Shell platforms are about four nautical miles from the Elgin rig.
Total recruited engineers involved in BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill while it considers drilling a relief well which would take up to six months. Total is also considering a quicker option involving a platform intervention to kill the well.
The leak happened during work to plug and abandon the well, which was no longer producing gas, the UK Energy & Climate Change Ministry said in a statement.
Remote monitoring revealed that gas continued to be released. A sheen was observed on the water’s surface near the installations, believed to be gas condensate, a petrol-like substance that typically disperses naturally, the ministry said.
Total were sending a ship carrying a robotic submarine to investigate what went wrong with the gas well beneath the platform. However, any personnel heading to the vicinity of the platform are taking huge risks.
"You wouldn't want to be going anywhere near a huge gas leak like that, basically this sort of situation is unheard of in the North Sea," an industry source who asked not to be named told Channel 4 News.
According to Total, however, until these investigations have been carried out the company will not know the exact cause of the leak and how deal with it.
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