Total Prepares for Next Phase at Elgin

Total may send a helicopter with its own personnel to inspect the Elgin gas leak, Reuters has reported today.

Citing two sources close to the company, the news agency reports that Total is planning to send a helicopter to the well, which has been leaking gas for a week, to assess the well. Following from this inspection, the company will decide whether it is safe to inject mud into the wellhead with mud to stem the leak.

However, a spokesman for the company has also told Bloomberg that the company is planning to drill two relief wells to stem the leak. 

"We are making firm plans to drill two relief wells," spokesman Brian O’Neill said today by phone to the news site. "If for whatever reason the leak can be brought under control before the wells are finished, the decision may be revisited."

Total has already prepared for the possibility of drilling these relief wells, suspending operations on two drilling rigs in order to have those on standby to complete the action. Total said it also is considering additional drilling rigs to maintain the widest possible options available for the response.

The company also has two support vessels on standby in order to deploy remote-operated vehicles for underwater inspections and to conduct seabed surveys of possible sites for relief wells.

Total is holding meeting today in Paris to discuss the best course of action for cessation of the leak and is expected to update the public later today.

On Thursday, MD of Total E&P UK Phillippe Guys said the company was sorry for the situation and praised the staff on board the rig at the time of the incident.

"Let me say how much Total regrets the incident at the Elgin complex," he said. "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.

I therefore have to commend who was onboard the Elgin at the time of the incident , as their response led to the prompt and safe evacuation of all 238 people on the platform, and the adjacent Rowan Viking drilling rig, when the leak was identified."

So far, the leak resulting from the Elgin field has not increased in size and has remained the same size over a week of observations. An issue with a problematic flare, which had the potential to ignite the leaking gas, has also been resolved without intervention from the company having extinguished itself by Saturday.