Total shares dive after gas leak
- 12 years ago
A gas leak from a North Sea rig owned by oil giant Total remains a mystery.
And it's not getting any better.
The rig was evacuated on Sunday and an air and sea exclusion zone has been declared around the Elgin platform as a cloud of explosive natural gas bubbles out of the North Sea.
Jake Molloy is an organiser for offshore workers at the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) Jake Molloy, RMT, saying:
"If you draw on the positives, everybody's home. Everbody's been evacuated. The installation's shut down. It's dead. The likelihood of an ignition is remote or at least it has been minimized to as far as it could possibly go. Beyond that, noone knows. we're dealing with the unexplained, the unencountered."
The French firm says it's looking at the options of either drilling a relief well - that could take six months - or sending in engineers to kill the leak.
Although that would be quicker, it would be much riskier.
Shell has also removed some of its workers from nearby rigs.
Total's shares closed six percent lower.
Joanne Nicholson, Reuters
And it's not getting any better.
The rig was evacuated on Sunday and an air and sea exclusion zone has been declared around the Elgin platform as a cloud of explosive natural gas bubbles out of the North Sea.
Jake Molloy is an organiser for offshore workers at the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) Jake Molloy, RMT, saying:
"If you draw on the positives, everybody's home. Everbody's been evacuated. The installation's shut down. It's dead. The likelihood of an ignition is remote or at least it has been minimized to as far as it could possibly go. Beyond that, noone knows. we're dealing with the unexplained, the unencountered."
The French firm says it's looking at the options of either drilling a relief well - that could take six months - or sending in engineers to kill the leak.
Although that would be quicker, it would be much riskier.
Shell has also removed some of its workers from nearby rigs.
Total's shares closed six percent lower.
Joanne Nicholson, Reuters