Gas leak 'significantly better', operators claim

Gas is still leaking from an offshore platform in Scottish waters but "significant progress" has been made towards stopping it, operators say.

Oil and gas company Total said preparatory work for the planned drilling of primary and back-up relief wells this week was "progressing according to plan" and two rigs are being mobilised for the drilling of both wells.

However the company still hasn't made a final decision over whether to drill the relief wells, which experts warn could take months, or to pump heavy mud into the leaking well instead, which would mean workers having to re-board the hazardous platform.

All 238 staff were evacuated from the Elgin platform, around 150 miles off Aberdeen, when it began leaking gas more than two weeks ago.

About 200,000 cubic metres of gas are still escaping from the platform every day, coming out from a rock formation below the sea.

The gas is then getting out into the air from a leak on the platform at the top of the well, about 80ft above sea level.

Earlier this week the Scottish Government said taste testing of fish from the area close to the gas leak in the North Sea had shown they are "untainted".

However, full chemical testing of all environmental samples is still being carried out.