Production Resumes After Leak Fixed

Work has restarted on a floating production vessel in the North Sea after a gas leak was fixed by deep sea divers.

The leak was detected several hundred metres away from Shell's floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) Curlew at around 11pm on Monday.

The company initially planned to evacuate the 91 people on board but later decided that was not necessary.

Curlew is connected to the Fulmar Gas Line but was isolated from the subsea infrastructure as part of routine maintenance at the time of the incident.

Divers have now closed two valves to isolate the Curlew from the Fulmar pipeline, allowing producers to export gas to the St Fergus plant.

There were no injuries during the incident and the relevant authorities have been informed, Shell said.

WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: ''It's good to hear that all personnel are safe. However, this incident again highlights the dangers posed daily by oil and gas operations in the North Sea.

''Given the big challenges facing the oil and gas industry right now, it's more important than ever that they do not take their eye off the ball when it comes to protecting people or the environment.''