Total confirms success of Elgin top-kill

Total has confirmed that the leaking G4 well in the Elgin field 240 km offshore Aberdeen has now been sealed shut through a top-kill operation. The top-kill procedure involved pumping heavy mud into the well to seal off the gas leak and after carefully monitoring the well for 5 days the company can confirm the success of the operation.

The next phase of the operation is to re-man the Rowan Viking drilling rig and set cement plugs in the well to complete the abandonment procedure, this is expected to take several weeks. Once the first cement plug is set, the relief well will also be abandoned, as it is no longer necessary.

Yves-Louis Darricarrère, President Exploration & Production at Total, said, “While we will obviously take on board any lessons to be learned, I want to congratulate all the teams, including our partners that have been mobilised with the only focus to stop the leak.”

“I also want to thank the UK authorities for their co-operation and assistance since the leak began. Now, it is important that we continue to work together with the authorities to conclude the ongoing investigations, take into account lessons learnt and define the necessary conditions for restarting production of the Elgin-Franklin fields.” 

Adapted from press release by Peter Farrell.

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