A North Sea platform has entered its fifth day shut down as investigations continue into the cause of a gas leak on board the installation.
Production was shut down on Marathon’s Brae Alpha platform after an alarm was raised on Boxing Day.
Around 73 workers remain on board the platform which is about 155miles north east of Aberdeen.
As the situation moved into another day, the US oil and gas company said it remained focused on conducting a “comprehensive investigation”.
A spokesman added: “Our focus is on conducting a comprehensive investigation and assessing all necessary work to safely resume platform operations.”
Last night Talisman said its Enoch field, which is tied into Marathon’s Brae Alpha was unlikely to be impacted by the shutdown in production.
It’s understood the company is currently assessing numbers to see how its output will be affected.
The Brae Alpha platform is among the North Sea’s oldest platforms at 32 years old.
Jake Molloy, RMT regional organiser, said incidents such as this could put of future investment in ageing assets.
He said: “An incident like this, with an aged asset like this, could bring on early decommissioning of the Braes.
“That’s a potential for a lot of these older infrastructures and if something like this happens it doesn’t warrant further investment to repair it.
“That’s the type of scenario we are getting into which is why we should be so keen to make sure more is done on these installations to protect them.
“If you don’t maintain them, then it has an impact on the future of these installations.”
In response to the comments by the union boss, Marathon Oil said it would be “premature to respond to speculation”.
After the alarm was raised, a helicopter was scrambled by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to evacuate workers, who had mustered in preparation for leaving the Brae Alpha.
However it was stood down on Saturday night after the scale of the incident was downgraded.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency had also been alerted to the leak when the platform had issued a distress call after a number of gas alarms went off in response to the leak.
The incident comes after the safety watchdog hit Marathon with an improvement notice following a leak on the platform in June.
Last month, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the incident had “put the health and safety of individuals on the platform at risk”. Marathon was given until April to comply with the notice.
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