Gas Cloud Amid Leak At North Sea Platform

An exclusion zone has been put in place around a North Sea oil and gas well, where a plume of gas was seen rising above the water after a "serious" leak.

The potentially explosive natural gas is escaping from Total's Elgin platform, and officials have admitted it could take up to six months to plug the leak.

The well, which normally has 238 workers, has been evacuated and the facility powered down.

Ships have been told not to pass within two miles of the rig and an air exclusion zone extends to three miles around the location, which is 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.

As well as the gas cloud, a sheen of oil was visible on the water.

Oil Spill Response (OSRL) have carried out two aerial surveillance flights to assess the situation and two further flights are planned. Read More