Production was returning to normal last night on eight offshore installations after an oil leak shut down a crucial subsea pipeline.
Specialist workers have been flown on to the Cormorant Alpha – which remains shut – to try to stem around 200 gallons of oil escaping from the stricken North Sea platform every day.
Almost 100 workers had to be evacuated from the Taqa Bratani installation on Monday after hydrocarbons were detected in one of its four legs. This led to the Brent pipline – which serves almost 30 fields and accounts for 10% of the UK’s oil – being shut down stopping nearly 90,000 barrels of oil being produced a day.
Last night a spokeswoman for the company said it was now safe for oil to flow through the pipeline, which she said was closed only as a “precaution”.
The Cormorant Alpha, which is still leaking, will remain on shut-down until the source is discovered and stemmed.
She said: “We have begun the process of restoring the flow of an estimated 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in the Brent pipeline system following a precautionary shutdown on Monday.
“The pipeline system, which is operated by Taqa and runs through the Cormorant Alpha platform, was halted after a small hydrocarbons release in one of the platform’s legs.
“Investigations have found there is no connection between the Brent pipeline system and the pipeline involved in the release.
“The process of restarting Brent throughput follows a thorough technical evaluation that shows it is safe to do so without any increased risk to Cormorant Alpha.”
It is understood every hour the pipeline was shut it was costing oil companies £250,000.
All of the oil leaking from the platform is believed to be contained within the 500ft concrete leg of the structure.
It is understood a pump has been put in place to take the fluid from the leg and circulate it back to the topside system.
Cormorant Alpha is located 232 miles from Peterhead and 94 miles from Lerwick in Shetland.
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said: “We are keeping a watching brief on the incident, are in contact with the duty holder and are receiving regular updates on the progress of the incident.
“HSE will carry out an investigation of the incident once the situation has been brought under control and it is safe to do so.”