An oil and gas platform owned by French oil giant Total has been evacuated and an 'exclusion zone' has been set up around it, as a cloud of natural gas hovers over the site and a six-mile long 'sheen' has formed in the ocean around the rig.

 

Ships have been ordered by Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the UK to stay at least two miles from the Elgin PUQ platform, which sits about 150 miles off Aberdeen on Scotland's east coast, and aircraft must stay at least three miles away.

Technical teams from the oil company were investigating the cause of the gas leak but declined to give further details, according to a Total spokesman today. The company contends that although the situation is 'stable' though they admit they do not yet know the source of the leak.