Elgin Environmental Results Due Tomorrow

The results on fish sampling work undertaken by the Scottish government in response to the Elgin gas leak will be released tomorrow, the BBC has reported.

Beginning on Friday, the government worked over the Easter weekend to collect samples of fish, water and soil from the Elgin site in the UK North Sea. Those samples are now being chemically analysed with results expected to be given tomorrow.

The Elgin gas field, which has been experiencing leakage since the 25th of March, is operated by French major Total.

A government interest group will also meet today to discuss the gas leak while an environment group, set up by the government to deal with the leak, will meet several times this week to further analyse the situation and data gleaned from the sampling.

Meanwhile, the Fitch Ratings financial ratings agency has warned that the environmental response to the Elgin incident could have far reaching consequences for companies operating in the North Sea.

The agency cautioned that if, in response to the leak, the European Union was motivated to apply stricter regulations to North Sea activity, this would have a massive financial impact on those companies operating there now and in the future.

A requirement for companies operating in the area to have enough financial reserves to deal with any accidental environmental damage was already on the table with the EU. Fitch says that this requirement is now more likely to be pushed through owing to this crisis. This could mean, the agency said, that companies will be required to have financial reserves of up to €10 billion in order to obtain the necessary licences for North Sea activity.

"Such an approach could have negative rating consequences for even the highest investment-grade oil and gas companies operating in EU territorial waters," the agency said.