Flare still burning on the abandonned North Sea Elgin platform – Total Corp. addresses safety question.
The flare is an integral part of the platform's safety system. In an emergency it is used to safely evacuate all the gas from the platform. During the incident it performed this task perfectly, allowing everyone to evacuate safely.
When the emergency de-pressurisation is initiated, all hydrocarbons feeds are closed and valves are opened on installations vessels to de-pressurise gas to the flare. These valves remain open as they are designed to in such circumstances.
The flare is still lit because when the platform is shut down and de-pressurised in an emergency, it cannot be fully purged as done in a controlled shutdown. This is perfectly normal. Some liquids do remain in the system and these liquids are now evaporating. As these liquids evaporate the flow of hydrocarbons to the flare will exhaust itself and the flare should burn out.
At present the flare does not pose any immediate risk as the layout is designed to take into account the prevailing wind direction, ensuring that these winds are taking any gas from a potential leak in the wellhead area in the opposite direction to the flare. This is in fact exactly what is happening. The wind is forecast to remain in its current direction for the coming days. You can be assured that this is being reviewed on a constant basis and should this change any impact is being assessed. In parallel we are investigating solutions to extinguish the flare if it does not burn out by itself.