Talos Energy says a leak from an inactive well in the Gulf of Mexico should be plugged within 24 hours, after a blowout left a slick on the water.
The inactive Ship Shoal 225 B-2 well was being plugged when natural gas and condensate began to flow on Monday.
Five people working on the platform were evacuated as a precaution as an rainbow sheen formed on the site, 74 miles south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, while two other wells on the platform which had been producing were shut.
“In an abundance of caution, we decided to evacuate the paltform and mobilise our spill response team,” said Talos president and chief executive Timothy Duncan.
“We notified the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the US Coast Guard, and we shut-in two other producing wells on the platform.
The company, which owns the well through its Energy REsources subsidiary, said the age of tubing on the well may have been the cause of the leak. The equivalent of six barrels of condensate are thought to have been discharged, based on the dimensions of the oil sheen, and that it would evaporate quickly.
A spokesman for the US coastguard said they were working closely with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to ensure the situation was dealt with properly.