Elgin relief well ‘to take six months’

Long haul: Sedco 714 will drill Elgin relief well for half a year

Transocean

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Eoin O'Cinneide

 18 April 2012 14:00 GMT

Half a year is how long it is expected to take Total to drill the first of two relief wells near the site of its leaking Elgin platform in the North Sea.

The French major announced on Wednesday that Transocean’s semi-submersible drilling rig Sedco 714 had spudded the well near the site of the leaking processing, utilities and quarters (PUQ) facility.

(Click here to read all Upstream articles on the Elgin gas leak crisis.)

Total did not say when the well spudded or how long drilling would take, earlier saying both relief wells would take a matter of months to finish.

Later on Wednesday, however, the UK’s Department of Energy 7 Climate Change (DECC) revealed that the first relief well is expected to take six months to drill.

“The anticipated vertical…

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