"LONDON -- A gas cloud has encircled Total's Elgin Franklin platform in the North Sea after failed attempts to shut a problematic production well caused a leak, an RMT union official said, based on eyewitness accounts from workers on nearby rigs."
"'People seven miles away can see a gas cloud coming from the Total rig,' said Jake Molloy, the head of the section of the UK union that represents offshore oil and gas workers.
A separate relief well may need to be drilled to ease pressure and allow emergency teams to regain entry to the rig and try to fix the problem, he said, citing engineers.
'The well in question had caused Total some problems for some considerable time ... a decision was taken weeks ago to try to kill the well, but then an incident began to develop over the weekend,' he said."
Oleg Vukmanovic reports for Reuters March 26, 2012.
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