Oil giant Total is getting down and dirty in a desperate bid to halt an eight-week-old gas leak which is setting it back around $3 million a day.
Workers have started pumping mud down the leaking well at the Elgin platform, 240 km off the coast of Scotland.
However, fears remain that should the mud not stick and the leak not quelled that it could deprive the UK of nearly 6 per cent of its supply this summer - at a time when energy prices for cash-strapped Brits are already shooting through the roof.
"The well intervention operation got underway at 08.20 GMT (11.20am UAE) this morning with the pumping of heavy mud into the well from the main support vessel," Total announced in a statement.
Parallel work to drill a relief well will also continue.
Last week, Total said that the amount of gas leaking
from the platform had shrunk to a quarter of the original quantity.
© 7Days 2012
