The gas leak at a Totalplatform in the North Sea has been plugged.
A “well kill” operation started at the Elgin platform, around 150 miles off Aberdeen, last week.
It involved heavy mud being pumped into the G4 well at the installation, and the leak stopped within 12 hours.
Yesterday the company, which has been monitoring the site closely for the past five days, said inspections had shown the operation to have been a success.
The news was welcomed by industry bodies and environmental groups.
Total also said last night that it would start re-manning the Elgin and the nearby Rowan Viking rig over the next few days.
Exploration and production president Yves-Louis Darricarrere said: “While we will take on board any lessons to be learned, I want to congratulate all the teams, including our partners, that have been mobilised with the only focus to stop the leak.
“Safely evacuating everyone from the platform and adjacent drilling rig, preventing any serious environmental impact and recovering control of the G4 well is a highly commendable effort from the teams involved.
“Now it is important that we continue to work together with the authorities to conclude the ongoing investigations, take into account lessons learned and define the necessary conditions for restarting production of the Elgin-Franklin fields.”
All 238 staff were evacuated from the platform when the leak was detected almost two months ago.
At one point, about 7million cubic feet of gas was escaping every day.
A Total spokesman said last night: “The next milestone will be to put a cement plug in the G4 well. To do this we need to regain access to the Rowan Viking drilling rig, currently located alongside Elgin, from where the cement will be pumped.
“Progressive remanning of the Elgin complex and the Viking will hopefully begin within the next few days, but it’s likely to be a few weeks before all the systems are powered back up and running and Elgin and the Viking are fully remanned.”
Oil and Gas UK’s health and safety director, Robert Paterson, said: “Total should be congratulated for this, and for the way the evacuation of personnel was conducted.
“Clearly, in the fullness of time, lessons will become known and the oil and gas industry will ensure that they are widely shared across the industry.”